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

The implements from Protopalatial Crete are varied. Although carpentry/masonry
types constitute about half of the collection, metallurgical, utilitarian and small craft
implements were also utilized. The metalworking tools coincide with other traces of
metallurgical activity on the island, and the occurrence of such implements on Crete is
surpassed only by Anatolia. Although an indisputable MBA tool connection between
Crete and its eastern neighbors does not exist, 746 the array of Protopalatial
carpentry/masonry tools is comparable to the tool repertoires in the east (Fig. 4.28).
Double axes and chisels are the predominant Cretan tools, followed by saws and shaft-
hole axes. The Minoan preference for the saw, which is palpable in the LBA, is already
seen in the MBA. While shaft-hole axes are typical of Syria-Palestine and Anatolia, the
Cretan versions, mostly dated to the MBA, are notably smaller (and have different
forms). It is unclear if the Cretan shaft-hole axes were inspired from the east. The
implement type is well attested in the MBA at Kültepe and perhaps the inspiration for the
Cretan examples came through Anatolia, especially in light of the connections between
the two regions in the early second millennium BC. This hypothesis should be probed in
greater detail in future studies, in spite of Evely’s suggestion that the MBA shaft-hole
axes on Crete originated in the EBA rather than being influenced from elsewhere. 747
MBA metallurgy on the Greek mainland is relatively humble; in comparison to
Crete, Anatolia and the eastern Mediterranean, the number and diversity of MH tools is
rather unimpressive. Knives constitute nearly half of the implements from this region,
while a handful of tools used in small crafts and carpentry/masonry projects are known.
Of the wood- and stone-working tools, chisels are the most common but their quantity is
746
On page 150, I hypothesized that a small trunnion/lugged blade from Protopalatial Mallia was imported
from Anatolia.
747
Evely 1993, 58.
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