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

chisels. Categories 2 and 4 occur frequently within the dataset, demonstrating the
variability of tool sizes. The fourth grouping represents the range of greatest overlap for
single axes, adzes, and wide chisels, all of which served myriad craft activities. The
ambiguity of these tool types within Category 4 is clarified somewhat when tool length is
taken into consideration as well (see Chapter 4). For comparison with the dimensions of
single blades, the cutting widths of the shafted, double-sided tools (e.g. double axes, axe-
adzes, axe-hammers, pick-adzes, and double adzes) were measured by the same
classification scales. Double axes routinely show Category 5 cutting widths, while adze
blades have Category 4 measurements. It is hoped that the cutting width distinction
provides a useful method for highlighting the tool needs and preferences of craft
industries.
V. Limitations and caveats for this study
There are important limitations to this study that must be recognized. Even though
an impressive and comprehensive database of second millennium copper and copper-
alloy tools was compiled, this list cannot be exhaustive. Most of these implements are
already published, but have not been gathered into a single catalogue and study. There are
undoubtedly tools that were missed while forming the dataset; such cases were perhaps
excavated recently or remain unpublished. Specific regions in this study are better
represented than others, which corresponds directly to the geographical areas that were
visited during the course of the doctoral research. Therefore, the data for Cyprus, Greece
(the mainland and Crete) and Turkey are more thorough than that from Syria, Lebanon,
or Israel. The Syro-Palestinian examples rely heavily on Deshayes’ impressive yet
outdated work. As Egyptian tools have been well studied, they may provide an important
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