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

absent. 758
The Linear B tablets at Pylos document over 400 smiths working in Messenia,
so it is likely that Mycenaean metallurgical sites exist and have not yet been excavated.
Metal hoards are touted as foundry materials reflective of metallurgical activity, but most
caches do not contain the physical evidence, such as molds and tuyères, that prove
melting and casting took place. Therefore metal hoards should not be taken as evidence
for Mycenaean metalworking. Despite the limited traces of metallurgy, there are more
LBA implements on the mainland than any other region, reflecting a dramatic change in
tool consumption from the MH to LH period. This shift probably also indicates the social
value and uses of metal tools since many are found in tombs, much in contrast to
Protopalatial and Neopalatial customs on Crete. The juxtaposition of copious Mycenaean
tools with the lack of production sites raises the possibility that metal implements were
manufactured off the mainland and imported.
As with Crete and the islands, agricultural tools are not abundant on the Greek
mainland, except for sickles which are often found in LH hoards. Metallurgical
implements are even less common on the mainland than agricultural tools. The
infrequency of objects for metalworking correlates to the scarce number of Mycenaean
sites with archaeometallurgical remains. The dominant implement from the mainland is
the utilitarian category, and their popularity remained consistent from the MBA to LBA.
As anticipated, the distribution of LH carpentry/masonry tools increased from the
MBA, representing about 30% of the region’s assemblage, a percentage comparable to
758 There is an astonishing lack of archaeometallurgical remains from Mycenae. Despite the great quantity
of metal objects from the site, a metal workshop has not been excavated. A LH IIIB mold for a winged ax
came from a burnt layer in room 4 of the House of the Oil Merchant, and the object seems to have arrived
by means of a traveling smith from Italy (Wace 1953, 15; Stubbings 1954b, 297-298). Muhly (1976, 93)
argues that a smelting furnace existed at Mycenae based upon a bun ingot and copper-iron-sulfide (matte)
in the Poros Wall hoard, and believes that the matte originally lined the interior of a furnace.
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