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

are collectively known from Crete and the mainland. When found in Greece, these
Anatolian axes principally date to the LBA III period, though a trunnion/lugged blade
turned up at Protopalatial Mallia. With established links between Anatolia and Crete in
the MBA, this early Mallian tool was probably imported from Anatolia.
Evidence for technological and craft exchange between the Hittites and
Mycenaeans previously has been cited with the cut marks of tubular drills and pendulum
saws. A monumental saw that swung back and forth was suggested by Schwandner and
reconstructed in detail from careful measurement by M. Küpper of cuttings on stone
blocks from the Mycenae citadel, some of the Mycenae tholoi tombs, Tiryns, and Gla. 784
Similar markings were observed in the adyton of the Great Temple at Boğazköy-
Hattusha. 785 Seeher recently discredited this theory by experiment, and proposed that the
Hittite blocks were fashioned with a handheld convex saw. 786 It remains to be seen
whether Seeher’s analysis will be accepted by other scholars. Despite the contention over
the saw form that Hittite masons utilized, it is indisputable that a Minoan saw was found
at Boğazköy and Seeher’s argument needs to be weighed against the detailed and
abundant evidence collected by Küpper. 787
Given the use of either the pendulum or a
convex saw in Mycenaean and Hittite masonry, it is somewhat surprising that saws are
infrequent on the Greek mainland and Anatolia, but this may be related to the hard
construction materials (e.g. micro-crystalline limestone, conglomerate, and gabbro) used
in these regions.
784 Schwandner 1991, 219-223; Küpper 1996, 16-25.
785 Schwandner 1991, 220-223; Seeher 2007, 31-35.
786 Seeher 2007, 35-41.
787 For the Minoan saw at Hattusha, see Neve 1989.
342