Copper Smelting in Late Bronze Age Cyprus: The Excavations at Politiko Phorades
2001; American Schools of Oriental Research; Volume: 64; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/3210830
ISSN2325-5404
AutoresA. Bernard Knapp, Vasiliki Kassianidou, Michael Donnelly,
Tópico(s)Metallurgy and Cultural Artifacts
ResumoA letter from el Amarna sent by the King of Alashiya (Cyprus) to the pharaoh in Egypt mentions a large shipment of copper from Cyprus. The king apologizes for not sending more, blaming the pestilence god Nergal for ruining the economy. But what do we really know about Cyprus' copper industry? The authors spent three seasons finding out during their excavations at Politiko Phorades. Dating to the Late Bronze Age, the site turned out to be the earliest primary copper-smelting workshop yet excavated on Cyprus. Phorades seems to have been a small workshop, part of a larger network of Cypriot mining and production sites. The current article helps us in reconstructing the "industrial landscape" of the Mediterranean Bronze Age as well as giving us a unique look into copper production processes that were previously unknown.
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