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

Chapter 6: Summary of the tool distributions and their implications for
Craftsmanship
I. The study of metal tools: contextualizing the current investigation
This investigation evaluated the second millennium BC metal tools from the
Aegean, eastern Mediterranean, and Anatolia. To varying degrees, these regions were in
contact with each other over the course of the MBA and LBA periods. Consequently, it is
natural to question the level of craft interaction among these areas. This scope shaped the
framework of my project in that a long duration of time and an expansive geographical
area were considered, and was addressed by evaluating the distribution and consumption
tendencies of metal tools. Previous tool studies were instrumental in the assembly of my
implement database, and these works are briefly reviewed to contextualize the approach
of the current study.
One of the earliest publications about metal implements was Petrie’s on Egyptian
tools and weapons. 712 The work’s coverage was not restricted to Egypt and Petrie
considered objects spanning the Mediterranean and Europe and from all periods of
antiquity. Petrie’s inclusion of tools and weapons in a single volume is an approach
adopted by many later publications. Several decades after Petrie’s monograph, tool (and
weapon) studies became more narrowly focused, tracking the occurrence of an individual
object type over time and space. For example, Maxwell-Hyslop considered shaft-hole
axes and trunnion/lugged axes in two different articles—each documenting the tool’s
Near Eastern and Levantine distribution and origin. 713
Likewise, Sandars published
articles on the single-edged knives and the series of Aegean swords, while Buchholz
712 Petrie 1917.
713 Maxwell-Hyslop 1949; 1953.
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