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

catalogue because a comprehensive examination was not possible for this study.
Although the region’s tools are under-represented, certain tendencies in tool selection are
still recognizable.
The percentage of LBA agricultural implements in the Syro-Palestinian tool
repertoire recalls the tool type’s frequency on Cyprus. Although agricultural tools are
found elsewhere, they are not as regular as in Syria-Palestine and Cyprus. Metallurgical
tools are unusual in the Levant, likely reflecting the limited activity in metal production
in the area. Similar to the Anatolian evidence, utilitarian implements are irregular in
Syria-Palestine—a pattern very different from Aegean tool preferences. As in the MBA,
the majority of LBA Levantine tools are carpentry/masonry implements. This preference
perhaps coincides with the architectural developments of the region. The selection of
carpentry/masonry tools in Syria-Palestine varies, but single-bladed, flat axes and chisels
are most typical (Fig. 4.29). Shaft-hole axes and shaft-hole adzes are not as frequent but
are also distinctive to the region. Like Cyprus, the Syro-Palestinian tools bear little
resemblance to Mycenaean types. Rather, the Levant shows closer ties to Cyprus and
Anatolia with regard to tool types.
The distribution of metal tools in the LBA must also take into account the 239+
examples from the Uluburun and Cape Gelidonya shipwrecks (Fig. 4.27). The selection
of implements aboard these vessels is comparable to the tool assemblages found on land.
There was an extraordinarily large cache of agricultural equipment on the Gelidonya ship
but the bulk of this collection is fragmentary and understood as scrap metal.
Metalworking implements also have been recovered on each wreck. The selection of
wood- and stone-working tools on the ships, in addition to the utilitarian ones, replicates
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