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

exclusive items inaccessible to most individuals—especially rural farmers. The
distribution of agricultural tools according to a site’s size supports this claim (Fig. 3.6 and
Fig. 3.9a-f). The preponderance of agricultural tools came from palatial or urban centers.
Lower-level sites yielded these implements as well, but there was clearly differential
access to metal agricultural tools. Nearly half of the farming instruments were recovered
in hoards, while a substantial number of tools came from shipwrecks (Figs. 3.7 and 3.9a-
g). Agricultural implements are much rarer in other contexts. The primary distribution of
these tools in hoards and at palatial-like sites highlights their restricted nature. In some
cases, the agricultural equipment may have been controlled by an authoritative agency,
akin to the farming tools in the MBA Kutalla hoard from Mesopotamia. 153
Several aspects regarding the Cypriot and the Levantine tool data stand out and
imply that these cultures shared similar tendencies in agriculture: 1) the popularity and
common incidence of agricultural tools, 2) the standard preferences for certain tool types,
and 3) parallel find contexts. Generally, sickles and hoes/plowshares dominate the
agrarian tool forms (Fig. 3.8). Picks are also common, though restricted to Cyprus and the
154
Gelidonya shipwreck.
Cyprus yielded a diverse assemblage of agricultural tools, many
of which are not found in abundance elsewhere (Fig. 3.9d). Syria-Palestine’s repertoire
lacked the Cypriot diversity, yet the proportion of agricultural tools, calculated from the
total number of Levantine tools, matched that of Cyprus (Fig. 3.5a, b). Sickles and
153 The management of agricultural implements by a state is attested from the Mesopotamian MBA. The
18 th century BC Kutalla (or Loftus) hoard from Tell Sifr (Iraq) supplies evidence of a state-owned cache
consisting of numerous agricultural tools (14 spade blades and 48 sickles) that were stored seasonally.
Mesopotamian textual records confirm that agricultural equipment was collected and stashed away by the
state during times of inactivity; implements were later redistributed when the appropriate work period
began. See Moorey 1971.
154 The picks on the Gelidonya wreck were likely picked up on Cyprus, as pointed out by Bass 1967, 88.
Within Cyprus, the picks are mostly concentrated at Enkomi. It is somewhat surprising that picks are not
found in other regions. Pick-adzes are found on Crete, but single picks are absent on Crete other than an
EBA-MBA example from Selakanos.
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