Discoid loom weights on Cyprus: new insights into textile tools and practical knowledge from the Aegean

Abstract

Discoid loom weights are a distinctive type of weaving tool widely found at Bronze Age sites across the Aegean region. The identification of these artefacts in the Cypriot record sheds new light on the contacts between the island and the Aegean at the dawn of the Late Bronze Age. This paper aims to analyse the earliest examples of Cypriot discoid loom weights, retrieved from early Late Bronze Age contexts at Kalopsidha and Enkomi. The study focuses on their function and implications concerning the adoption of new weaving tools and likely practices within a period of profound social and economic transformations on the island. While transfers of technologies and practices to Cyprus are largely hypothesized for the various changes reflected in the material culture of this period, the transmission dynamics remain largely unknown. Therefore, discoid loom weights provide us with a new perspective from which to examine the mechanisms of the spread of tools and practical knowledge to the island during this crucial period.