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

There are, of course, other architectural techniques that bear comparison between
Hittite and Mycenaean building practices. One of the most interesting is the use of the
tubular drill on stonework, in both masonry and architectural sculpture. Physical tubular
drill bits are conventionally thought to be non-existent, but hollow metal cylinders,
previously understood as sleeve handles of saws, deserve reconsideration as tubular drill
bits. Circular mortises are ubiquitous in masonry at the major Hittite citadels and occur at
Tiryns and Mycenae in the Argolid. Large mortise holes, made by wide tubular drills,
occur in the west jamb of the Steintor of the Tiryns Oberburg (17 cm) and in the jambs of
the Lion and Postern Gates at Mycenae (between 12‒12.5 cm); the purpose of these large
holes was to hold the bar or beam that locked the gate’s doors shut. 788 Tubular drills were
also utilized in manufacturing the Lion Gate relief at Mycenae. 789 Hittite sculptors
employed the specialized drill to form the mouths and eye sockets on the Lion and
Sphinx gates as well as other sculpted lion fragments (from Temples 2 and 3) at
Boğazköy. 790 Additional tubular drill holes in Hittite sculpture are found at Derbent and
Eflatun Pınar. 791
The greater quantity of drill holes in Hittite masonry and sculpture in
comparison to Mycenaean examples, suggests that an Anatolian genesis for the LBA
tubular drill is most likely. Regardless of the tubular drill’s origin, craft links seem
apparent between the Greek mainland and central Anatolia. Such observations enhance
our understanding of Mycenaean and Hittite relations.
Tool Connections within the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean
Tool example Type of interregional similarity; comments
788
Müller 1930, 70-71; Casson 1933, 210-211; Küpper 1996, 11 note 113, plate 1.3.
789
Casson 1933, 24-34, 209-213, figure 9.
790
Seeher 2005.
791
Neve 1988; Bachmann and Özenir 2004.
343