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

traveled from region to region practicing his trade at a time of heightened social anxiety.
Such an independent smith would have operated on a small scale in melting and recasting
objects, leading Bass to identify him as a tinker. 842
An additional case of traveling smiths has been suggested from the Late Cypriot
bronze work on Sardinia. The relationship between Cyprus and Sardinia at the end of the
LBA, although much discussed, is hardly resolved. One proposal is that Cypriot smiths
had metallurgical workshops on Sardinia. Given the lack of evidence for Cypriot
habitation on the western island, however, Lo Schiavo envisions Cypriot craftspersons
843
seasonally living on Sardinia and making regular trips between the two islands.
activity is dated to the 12 th and 11 th centuries, once the traditional metallurgical and trade
networks of the Mediterranean had collapsed. Cypriot traders, workers, and craftspersons
may have ventured west in search of raw materials, goods or new markets. This argument
VI. Future directions for studying metal tools
This
falls in line with the notion that craftspersons travel in search of work during a period of
instability. This type of craft independence, occurring in a decentralized society, does not
seem to characterize the majority of the Bronze Age.
This study has presented at length the distribution and consumption trends of
MBA and LBA metal tools in the Aegean, eastern Mediterranean and Anatolia. The
observations made from this dataset illustrate the development of tool types over time,
the regional tool preferences, and the implications of the craft industries and
craftspersons associated with these implements. Moreover, these patterns confirm how
842 Bass 1967, 163-164.
843 Lo Schiavo 2001.
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