Middle and Late Bronze Age Metal Tools from the Aegean, Eastern ...

elevancy during the LBA. Production regularly took place at urban centers; the primary
producer was Boğazköy, with several areas within the citadel bearing remains of
metalworking. While metal production is rare in the MBA Levant, it is better documented
in the LBA with traces from Ugarit and Kamid el-Loz.
In the Aegean, LBA metalworking is well documented on Crete, thereby
maintaining the island’s tradition of the craft. There are at least a dozen, and probably
several more, Late Minoan (LM) sites with traces of metallurgical production. These
traces are mostly indicative of melting and casting rather than smelting. 18 For the most
part, these Cretan metalworking sites occur along the coast—especially along the
northern and eastern sides—implying that there may have been easy access to imported
metals as ships arrived at each port. Metallurgical activity is not restricted to Minoan
palatial or urban centers, and more humble settlements like Mochlos have demonstrated
successful and effective metal production, probably serving local consumption needs. 19
The presence of metalworking at several kinds of Cretan sites parallels how tools are
equally distributed on the island. These patterns differ from other regions, and reflect the
socio-political organization of the Neopalatial peer polity palatial/urban centers.
Despite a rich collection of tools from Late Helladic contexts and the indication of
metalworking in the Pylos Linear B tablets, the identification and excavation of metal
workshops on the mainland has not occurred. Evidence for raw material (ingots) and
scrap metal in hoards should not be considered explicit signs of metallurgical activity.
Without the ingots and hoards, Late Helladic (LH) metallurgical activity appears to have
regressed from the MH period judging by the recovery of archaeometallurgical items;
18 Hakulin 2004.
19 Soles and Davaras 2004; Brogan 2008.
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