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

Mycenaean tool repertoire, yet some examples, surprisingly, resemble or imitate
Neopalatial prototypes.
The identification of tool kits, particularly those related to carpentry/masonry, is
explored in Chapter 5. These deliberate tool groupings are evident within numerous
second millennium metal hoards and shipwreck assemblages. Tools represent the
dominant category in metal caches, and the selection of tool types within these
assemblages was often intentional—indicative of a tool kit—rather than a haphazard
accumulation of scrap metal for melting and recasting. The traditional attempt of
identifying a single functional interpretation for a hoard’s collection of objects is overly
simplistic and not very useful, for the internal composition of a hoard is more complex,
perhaps by design, than previously suspected. The basic nature of metal hoards is that of
metal items stockpiled together. Whether these items were deposited in a single act or
formed through gradual accumulation is uncertain, and both scenarios likely occurred.
Mediterranean hoards are interpreted here as representing a stash of metal items that were
in storage, which the owner could add to or deplete from at any time he so wished. One
of the consistent factors in the formation of a hoard from the Greek mainland, to Crete, to
Cyprus is the inclusion and importance of tool kits—though the precise nature of the set
varied from region to region. Craft-related tool kits appear to have been one of many
factors dictating the formation and structure of metal hoards, and traditional ways of
evaluating metal assemblages in the Mediterranean Bronze Age should be reconsidered.
The general tool patterns from the study region during the second millennium are
summarized in the concluding Chapter 6. The limited evidence for interregional tool and
craft connections are highlighted, and it is evident that the notion of traveling
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