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

centers and within hoards (Fig. 3.6-7). Lithic and wooden agricultural tools were the
traditional forms, since they were easy to produce and their materials widely available.
Because of their low cost, non-metal agricultural equipment may have been preferred
over metal versions, though the latter were probably more efficient and long lasting. 148
Clearly metal agricultural tools were not essential, and they are preferred in some regions
and not in others. Likewise, the comparative dearth of tools for metalworking is
unanticipated given the good evidence for metallurgical activity throughout the second
millennium BC. The predominance of carpentry/masonry tools probably reflects the
advancements made in wood- and stone-working over the course of the MBA and LBA.
Moreover, these industries benefitted the most from metal cutting tools, and so such
implements were understandably produced and consumed in great quantities.
For analyzing contextual distributions in a more focused manner, sites are divided
into four categories according to a hierarchy—determined by importance and general
size. These are 1) Large, meaning central places such as palatial or urban centers, 2)
Medium, meaning sites secondary to the central places, 3) Minor, meaning rural or
unimpressive settings, and 4) Undetermined, because they are unstratified, stray finds, or
have no provenience. This categorization highlights the distribution of objects from site
to site and indicates which levels of society consumed tools more regularly than others.
Palatial or large urban sites have yielded nearly half of the tool dataset; the prominence of
such centers is evident in the following discussions about each tool category. Although
individual tools are common within archaeological contexts, greater importance was
148 It is also possible that metal edges were fitted to wooden agricultural implements, as known from
modern, pre-industrial times. Evidence for such practices, however, has not turned up or is yet to be
identified in the prehistoric record. Also see Sloane, 2002, viii for an explanation of the advantages of
wood over metal for agricultural, Early American tools.
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