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

In addition to greater amounts of tin-bronze in circulation, metal tool industries
were influenced by the genesis and development of some craft activities. A correlation
likely exists between the expansion of metal tool technologies and the ability to cut stone
for public edifices in the Near East, Anatolia and Crete as early as the MBA. Renfrew
observed that, “metal axes, chisels and gouges opened entirely new fields to the carpenter
and shipbuilder. Saws, chisels and gravers gave new opportunities to the lapidary and the
sculptor, as well as to the architect.” 136 Renfrew further asserted that carpentry,
leatherworking and masonry were transformed by metal implements and that “the great
value of metal tools was the increased versatility afforded in the working of other
materials.” 137
It is unclear whether the evolution of tool technologies affected
developments in crafting techniques, or vice versa. Did architectural needs prompt
progression and diversification of metal tool industries, or were construction skills
developed in response to the availability of innovative metal implements? These
questions may remain unanswered but a correlation undoubtedly exists between
advancements in crafting practices and tools. Shifts in tool preferences over time and
within functional categories are explored throughout this chapter.
The highest consumption of tools from the MBA (Fig. 3.1a, b) corresponds to
areas that had direct access to copper or had the means to acquire it. Consequently, most
early second millennium tools came from Cyprus and Anatolia, locations with natural
copper resources. Although copper sources exist on Kythnos and Seriphos in the
weapons were added to the material culture of the Aegean world after the end of the Neolithic, but the
nearly 12,000 lithics from Bronze Age Lerna demonstrate clearly the continuing importance of stone tools
in this period. Even the rather limited degree of craft specialization in EH-MH Lerna…is evidence for the
ongoing economic and technological value of lithic artifacts in Bronze Age society.” Also see, Runnels
1994, 166, 168; Runnels 1982.
136
Renfrew 1972, 325.
137
Renfrew 1972, 331-332.
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