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

specialized and intended for specific tasks. Often the craftsman would modify them and
create his ‘own’ tools for what he needed. 104
Tools
Tools have ‘real’ value as well. Craftsmen work hard to acquire them and many times
travel far to find them. Tools have a long life and are passed down from generation to
generation. They find their rightful place among homes and fields in wills and dowry
105
contracts.
These tool descriptions emphasize an implement’s value, specialization, and necessity—
all of which contribute to the success of the craftsperson. Because of their personal value,
tools are rarely discarded though often modified. Broken or fragmentary tools in metal
106
hoards may have developed alternative purposes than their original intention.
Tools, being useful to and cherished by craftspersons in 19 th century Greece, were
invaluable for their ability to provide a livelihood and were a form of transferable wealth.
In one passage, the tools are said to “ensure his survival” while another quote presents
tools as having achieved heirloom statuses. These ethnographic vignettes suggest that
tools were more likely to be passed down through generations and repaired, if broken,
than to be discarded. Late 19 th century tools from modern Greece were valued at 1,500
drachmas according to a stonemason’s will from Syros—this number is two and a half
times the monthly wage of a bank manager (600 drachmas) and roughly 25 times that of a
messenger (60 drachmas).
This
issue of broken tool functionality is addressed in Chapter 5 by considering tool variation
and object worth within so-called foundry hoards.
107
These objects were priced according to their metallic worth
and quality of craftsmanship. Documents from Skyros record a dowry given to a bride in
1802 in which a plowshare, pick-ax, two hoes, and two axes were included as part of the
104
Polyzoi 2009, 69.
105
Polyzoi 2009, 91.
106
For a general discussion on the importance of fragmented objects in the archaeological record, see
Chapman 2000.
107
Polyzoi 2009, 91.
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