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

tools are edged cutting ones that quite replace the ‘Neolithic’ axe/adze/chisel group by
the Late Bronze Age, whilst the other categories of stone tool types remain constant in
their production. 126
Axes, adzes, chisels and hammers are the best examples of stone implements that share
functions with metal tools. There are various types of stone axes, including but not
limited to ones with shaft holes; ground stones with a simple cutting edge; small, single-
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edged celts; and ceremonial types. Functional stone axes and/or adzes are well known
from as early as the fifth and fourth millennia BC, in the Aegean Neolithic and the
Chalcolithic period on Cyprus. 128 Stone celts or axes are repeatedly found in Neolithic
settings, and were capable of minor cutting projects but were hardly efficient in felling
timber. 129 It is this category of stone axes, variably termed chisels or adzes, which must
have declined with the proliferation of metal tools. A thorough examination of the
distribution of stone celts, adzes and chisels in the MBA and LBA is warranted for
comparison with the metal types. 130
A study of this sort would highlight the roles that the
traditional stone implements served, perhaps alongside with metal tools, in craft work.
Stone hammers are another category of implements underrepresented in the
archaeological record, but practically any fist-sized rock could have functioned as a
handheld hammer.
131
Stone hammers have been found in numerous Bronze Age sites,
through survey and excavation, but there is no comprehensive study that pulls all of this
126
Evely 1993, 116.
127
There are two stone ceremonial stone axes from the Hittite site of Ortaköy-Şapinuwa; the stone axes
bear a striking resemblance to the ax held by the warrior on the “King’s Gate” at Hattusha-Boğazköy. The
objects have not been published, but are on display in the Çorum Museum in Turkey.
128
Stroulia 2003, 27; Strasser 2008, 160-161; Elliott 1981.
129
Stroulia 2003, 1, 27-28.
130
A very cursory overview revealed that these stone celts or the like were found in MBA contexts at Ayios
Stephanos, Eutresis, Malthi, and Lerna while similar LBA finds were confirmed at the Athenian Agora,
Tiryns, Enkomi and Boğazköy. For references, see: Eutresis: Goldman 1931, 207. Ayios Stephanos:
Taylour and Janko 2008, 434-435. Malthi: Valmin 1938, 348-352. Lerna: Banks 1984 (1967), 85-99.
Tiryns: Rahmstorf 2008, entry 1246, 1247, 1250, 1253, etc.; Enkomi: Dikaios 1969; Boğazköy: Boehmer
1972, 203-204, plate LXXVI.
131
For some examples from Kommos, see: Blitzer 1995, 440-441, plates 8.13, 8.90; Shaw 2006b, 742-743.
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