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

information together. In the Aegean, stone hammers from the MBA and LBA have been
reported from the southern Argolid, Lerna, Paralimni Teichos Dymaion (Achaea), Malthi,
Nichoria, Kommos and Akrotiri, although this list is hardly comprehensive. 132 Stone
dressing hammers are also thought to have been part of the Mycenaean and Hittite
mason’s tool kit. In addition to the actual stone hammers, there is good evidence for
hammer-faced conglomerate blocks from the Mycenae tholoi and the conglomerate and
cyclopean stones from the gates and walls from Mycenae and Tiryns. 133
The exact relationship between metal and non-metal tools for each craft industry
is uncertain. Non-metallic implements were certainly cheaper alternatives, and they
remained effective but possibly less efficient. Metallurgical advancements provided
craftspersons with a greater range of tool forms even as traditional stone implements
were retained. Whetstones are regularly reported with metal tools, for they were a
necessary component to a craftsperson’s tool kit; whetstones aided the maintenance of
metal implements by keeping them sharp and effective. Smaller craft activities would
have utilized non-metal implements (bone, stone, ceramic, etc.) just as often as metallic
versions. Metallurgical activities regularly employed stone materials; stone pounders
were used to crush ore, stone molds were employed to fashion objects during the casting
process, and the use of whetstones was helpful in refining the finished products.
Carpentry and masonry work likely exploited stone for jobs that required pounding.
Stone hammers could strike chisels or smooth a surface while dressing a stone block. Yet
132 Southern Argolid: Kardulias and Runnels 1995, 118-121. Lerna: Banks 1984 (1967), 99-110.
Paralimni Teichos Dymaion: Papadopoulos 1978, 155. Malthi: Valmin 1938, 344-348, 352-353.
Nichoria: Blitzer 1992, 729. Kommos: Blitzer 1995, 440-441; Shaw 2006b, 742-743. Akrotiri: Doumas
1983, 114, plate 68 (for Doumas’ large demolition, hammer-like stone).
133 For hammer dressing on the Mycenae tholoi, see: Wace 1949, 34, 36, 44, 135-136; Wright 2006, 17
figure 1.4. For hammer dressing on conglomerate and cyclopean blocks in the citadels, see: Mylonas 1966,
16-18; Wright 1978, 159, 189, 202, 217, 258 note 307, Figs. 88, 89, 92, 120; Loader 1998, 47.
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