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

exchange systems over large geographic areas. 21 The knowledge of alloying and the
pyro-technical capabilities required for smelting and casting can be traced over time and
space. The acquisition of metallurgical know-how has long intrigued scholars, and is
often cited as an important factor explaining contact between two areas. Yet the
assessment of any region’s metallurgical industry must be balanced by consideration of
both local advancements and potential influence from abroad. Renfrew’s seminal work
emphasized the indigenous nature of Aegean metallurgy while advocating for limited
connections between areas: “Metallurgy grew up in each region, although strongly
influenced by the others. If there was a Metallschock, a sudden reaction produced by the
first impact of metallurgy and metal products upon the populace, it was a shock which
was locally inspired and produced.” 22 Large-scale diffusion models do not effectively
account for the spread of metalworking across broad areas, although it is possible to
document the general chronological and spatial developments of the craft. For instance,
“present evidence indicates that the production and use of copper and its alloys spread
throughout the Mediterranean from east to west.” 23 Localized developments in
metallurgy, open to external inspiration, are more likely than wholesale technological
transfers from one region to another. 24
Despite local preferences in many regions, metallurgy is a potential indicator of
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trans-cultural contact, exchange, and movement of ideas and peoples.
Commonalities in
ore sources, production techniques, and elemental compositions of objects have been
21
Knapp and Cherry 1994; Gale 1991; Lo Schiavo et al. 2009.
22
Renfrew 1972, 338.
23
Kassianidou and Knapp 2005, 216.
24
Nakou 1995; Craddock 2000, 162; Thornton et al. 2010, 309-310. This is not to say that smiths and
metallurgists did not travel, for they seem particularly mobile during the Aegean EBA; see Sherratt 2007,
251-252.
25
Deshayes 1960; Catling 1964; Branigan 1974; Pare 2000; Sherratt 2000; Kassianidou and Knapp 2005,
230-231; 235-239; Sherratt 2007, 251-252.
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