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

Cyprus. Agricultural tools are comparatively rare on LBA Crete, with 19 examples (only
3% of the island’s repertoire) from several different sites including Zakros, Gournia,
Mallia, Knossos, Kommos, Ayia Triadha, and Phaistos. The infrequency of Cretan metal
agricultural tools indicates that the island’s farming activities utilized stone implements
in addition to metal versions. Utilitarian and “small craft” implements are represented by
a consistently low percentage during the LM phase. Far more utilitarian tools were found
on the Greek mainland and surrounding islands. Crete’s most ubiquitous tool category is
that of carpentry/masonry. Such tools represent about 50% of the Cretan implements, a
percentage that varies minimally from the MBA to LBA. The popularity of
carpentry/masonry tools coincides with the number of architectural projects that
incorporate well-cut masonry during the Neopalatial (and Protopalatial) period. Of the
LM carpentry/masonry implements (Fig. 4.29), four kinds of tools are most common:
double axes, chisels, saws, and shafted double-sided tools (besides double axes). Saws
and double-ended implements occur sporadically on the mainland, and there are
differences in the double ax and chisel types from Crete and its northern neighbor. These
observations suggest that Mycenaean craftspersons did not wholeheartedly adopt Minoan
craft traditions and tools.
One of the more perplexing observations of this study is the sparse evidence for
metalworking on the Greek mainland during the LBA. Insignificant remnants of LBA
metallurgy have come to light at Nichoria, the Menelaion, and Kynos. 757
A few other
sites have yielded hints of metalworking, but archaeometallurgical material is generally
757 Nichoria: McDonald and Wilkie 1992, 398; Catling and Hughes-Brock 1992, 623-624; Tripathi 1988,
370-372; Menelaion: Catling 1976-1977, 31; Catling 1997, 54; Kynos: Dakoronia 1993, 224; Dakoronia
2003, 38; Kramer-Hajos 2008, 39, note 4.
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