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

this relationship is hard to pinpoint. On the other hand, the absence of non-local tools
does not necessarily mean that distant craft links were non-existent.
IV. Using metal tools to determine interregional contact and craft links
Commonalities among crafted products (luxury goods, ceramics, wall paintings,
architecture, etc.) are traditionally used to assess interregional artistic connections. 766
Alternatively, this study has used metal tools to determine such links, and this section
highlights probable connections. Some tool categories, however, are very poor indicators
of interregional relations. For instance, tools used in small crafting reveal shifts in their
consumption from the MBA to the LBA, but the distribution of these implements (Fig.
3.21a, b) fails to illustrate well-defined spatial patterning or cross-cultural relationships.
Likewise, the distribution of utilitarian implements is not helpful for discerning tool links.
One exception may be the shared popularity of these all-purpose tools on the Greek
mainland and islands throughout the second millennium (Fig. 3.15a, b). These
implements generally demonstrate localized preferences rather than interregional ones.
For instance, knives and other utilitarian items are prominent in Middle Cypriot contexts,
chiefly burials, and this phenomenon resulted from the inception of copper exploitation
on the island. The quantity of MC utilitarian tools is remarkably greater than any other
region—including Crete and Syria-Palestine, both of which were in contact with Cyprus
in the MBA. The infrequency of such tools outside Cyprus illustrates that their
exceptionally high number in MC contexts was the consequence of indigenous customs.
Agricultural, metallurgical and carpentry/masonry implements provide better
evidence for interregional tool links. A shared affinity for agricultural tools in Cyprus and
766 Feldman 2006.
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