A Social Archaeometallurgy of Bronze Age Cyprus

Abstract

As a major producer of copper throughout the Bronze Age (ca. 2400–1100 BC), the island of Cyprus assumed a key role in the social and economic networks within and beyond the eastern Mediterranean. Consequently, research into mining and metallurgy on the island during the Bronze Age was undertaken early and by the 1980s had become an integral part of the archaeology of Cyprus. While archaeometallurgical research on Cyprus has been and continues to be prolific and informative, its focus is by and large technological and ‘scientific’ in nature. When it comes to the Late Bronze Age (after ca. 1600 BC) especially, other issues also come to the fore—e.g., modes of production and exchange, historical and political links to other polities near and far. Less well considered are the social and material factors of Cypriot metallurgy, namely the prehistoric landscapes of mining and metallurgical production, the mining communities, hoarding practices, the social aspects of producing and exchanging copper, and the networks—terrestrial and maritime—that facilitated the entire system. This paper focuses on these social aspects of metallurgical production and exchange and considers the impact of metals and metallurgy on the Bronze Age inhabitants of Cyprus.