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

IB Mochlos and Gournia), 737 and Alashiyan copper was imported to Mari, according to
textual records, during the 18 th century BC. 738
Metallurgical activity is documented throughout the course of the Anatolian
second millennium, and especially in the early centuries. Anatolian sites with remnants of
metalworking dating the MBA are scattered along the Aegean coast (Troy, Cesme-
Baglararasi), the Mediterranean coast (Tarsus, Açana), and central Anatolia (Kültepe,
739
pre-Hittite Boğazköy, Alaca Höyük, Acemhöyük). A dense concentration of
workshops appears at Kültepe-Kanish, where more than ten areas in the Karum (levels II
and IB) and the Palace of Warshama revealed traces of metallurgical operations. 740
The
plentiful remains of metalworking from MBA Anatolia correspond to an equally high
number of tools (though less than the Cypriot sum). Carpentry/masonry and metallurgical
implements represent the preferred types of the region. The objects for metalworking,
consisting mostly of molds, are frequent, at least in comparison to other regions (Fig.
3.10). The area’s MBA carpentry/masonry tools are diverse, highlighted by chisels, shaft-
hole axes and trunnion/lugged axes (Fig. 4.28).
The quantity of MBA tools in Syria-Palestine does not match those of Cyprus or
Anatolia, but compares to what has been recovered in Crete and the Greek mainland. The
Syro-Palestinian data are incomplete and a more exhaustive collection of Levantine tools
would perhaps surpass the Aegean tool counts. Metallurgical installations have not been
excavated in Syria-Palestine, at least during the MBA. Of the types in this region, wood-
and stone-working tools constitute the overwhelming majority (over 80%); a smaller
737 Kassianidou 2008; Soles 2008.
738 Heltzer 1989; Knapp 2008, 76.
739 Müller-Karpe 1994, 49-98.
740 Müller-Karpe 1994, 49-65.
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