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

As previously mentioned, Minoan craftspersons worked in the Cyclades during
the early LBA—this is best seen by the architecture and handful of metal tools at Akrotiri
as well as the unfinished saw-cut in a block outside Building A at Ayia Irini. 800 It stands
to reason that Minoan craftspersons also traveled to Trianda on Rhodes, Miletus in
western Anatolia, and Phylakopi on Melos, as each of these LBA I settlements have
distinctive Minoan elements. 801
This supposition, however, is not strengthened by the
distribution of tools or any implement markings.
Minoan masons are also thought to have traveled to and worked on the Greek
mainland during the early Mycenaean period in both Messenia and the Argolid. Located
in the southwest Peloponnese, the LH IIA Peristeria tholos has two incised mason’s
marks—a double ax and a branch—on the tomb’s outer façade, and these marks were in
802
all likelihood carved by a Minoan artisan. Also in Messenia, the earliest foundations of
the Palace of Nestor during the early Mycenaean period have been re-interpreted by
Nelson as the probable work of Minoan masons. 803 Likewise, in the Argolid, Minoan
stonemasons are suspected to have introduced ashlar masonry to that region in the LH II
period. 804
Of course, the issue of whether Minoan craftspersons operated on the mainland
is most often discussed in terms of the materials from the Mycenae Shaft Graves.
Minoan elements are documented by various objects from the Grave Circles,
leading to speculation about their place of manufacture.
800
Palyvou 2005, 114, 120, 180-181; Cummer 1980.
801
Broodbank 2004.
802
Wright 1978, 147, 272; Palyvou 2005, 181.
803
Nelson 2001, 187-191.
804
Wright 1978, 273.
805
Vermeule 1975, 27ff; Matthäus 1980a, 339-341; Matthäus 1980b, 39-42; Dickinson 1997; Bloedow
1997, 439.
805
Are Shaft Grave objects
products of Cretans (either invited or captured) working on the mainland or Mycenaean
347