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

artisans trained in a Minoan style? A distinct relationship between Mycenae and Knossos
existed during the Shaft Grave era, according to Dickinson, yet the mechanics of craft
production and exchange at this time are unclear. 806 Muhly notes that “the most
contentious situation involving immigrant craftsmen is certainly the assumed Minoan
influence on the magnificent array of [Shaft Grave] artifacts,” and he concludes that the
patronage of Minoan craftspersons at Mycenae is inconclusive without textual sources. 807
Nevertheless, Bloedow interprets the Minoan-like objects in the Shaft Graves as
reflecting “itinerant craftsmen (chiefly Minoan), working especially at Mycenae, but also
at other centers of the Greek mainland.” 808 On the other hand, Tripathi proposed that the
Shaft Grave metals were produced by roughly a dozen smiths, who fashioned the objects
locally but were trained in Crete or the Cyclades. 809 The distinct Cretan traits in the Shaft
Graves and their uncertain place of manufacture highlight the challenge of recognizing
mobile craftspersons in the Aegean Bronze Age. 810
Discussions about the prospect of craftspersons traveling between the Aegean and
eastern Mediterranean focuses upon fresco plasters and painters through study of related
811
painting styles and techniques.
Excavations at several LBA sites in Syria-Palestine and
Egypt have produced fragments of wall paintings that bear a resemblance to Aegean
workmanship, leading to the suggestion that Aegean craftspersons traveled to the eastern
806
Dickinson 1977, 55; Dickinson 1983; Schofield 1982, 13-14; Bloedow 1997, 442-446.
807
Muhly 2005, 690. After reviewing the materials from the Grave Circles, Laffineur (1990-1991, 287-288)
notes that the evidence “as far as foreign contacts are concerned is rather paradoxical and disappointing.”
This statement is more concerned with the relations of Mycenae with the Near East, and he acknowledges
(289-290) a connection between Crete and Mycenae, though he does not comment on the exact nature of
this relationship.
808
Bloedow 1997, 440.
809
Tripathi 1988, 213.
810
Persson (1942, 148-149) recognizes the probability of craft mobility in the Aegean Bronze Age, but
emphasizes the indigenous nature of workshops that produced the Shaft Grave materials. Also see,
Vermeule 1975, 27-34.
811
Boulotis 2000; Bloedow 1997 (439) states, “these developments [Minoan style frescoes in the east]
increase the possibility that they may have been itinerant craftsmen in a number of other spheres as well.”
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