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

affinity of the tool types in Anatolia and Cyprus may allude to common craft work
between the regions. Single/flat axes appear in each area of study, yet are particularly
abundant in Cyprus and Syria-Palestine. This pattern is palpable in the MBA and remains
detectable in the LBA, thereby providing another example for cultural interaction
between these regions. The spatial patterning of the carpentry/masonry tools generally
indicates similar craft traditions between the eastern Mediterranean and Anatolia.
An Egyptian adze was recovered at Hattusha, and its presence in the Hittite
capital was likely not accidental given the well documented exchanges between Egypt
and Hatti. 794
Could the object reflect an Egyptian artisan laboring in central Anatolia—
supporting Near Eastern textual records’ suggestion of state-level exchange of
specialists—or a Hittite artisan who having been sent to Egypt returned with an Egyptian
tool in his kit? That conclusion is tempting for identifying instances of the movement of
craftspersons, but a single Egyptian adze in Hattusha cannot be used to support the notion
of Egyptian workmen living at Boğazköy.
Finally, the mix of carpentry/masonry tools on the Uluburun and Gelidonya ships
illustrates different tool preferences from Cyprus, the Levant, Anatolia, and the Aegean.
This tool mixing is perhaps the best indication of interregional craft exchanges, as well as
the strongest evidence for traveling craftspersons, a topic explored below.
V. Traveling craftspersons
Clear-cut examples of mobile craftsmen are hard to come by from tool
distributions alone. In addition to the Egyptian adze at Hattusha mentioned above, an
obvious case is a LH IIIB mold for a winged ax that was found at Mycenae. Since axes of
794 Neve 1996, 29, figure 70; Neve 2002, 93; Moran 1992.
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