HOARDS D'OEUVRES: OF METALS & MEN ON BRONZE AGE CYPRUS

Abstract

Summary. Diverse streams of archaeological and metallurgical research have demonstrated that Cyprus was an important regional copper producer and supplier during the eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age, at least from 1700–1100 BC. Until recently, research into metallurgical production and exchange on Bronze Age Cyprus necessarily focused on technological change and chronological division. Metals' provenience studies have begun to mature, and economic approaches related to copper production and exchange have begun to appear. In stark contrast to recent literature on “hoarding” activity in Bronze and Iron Age Europe, virtually no attention has been paid to the manner in which metals enter the archaeological record. In response to a growing body of theoretical literature, this study examines the gift‐commodity model and finds it wanting; instead the deposition of Cypriote hoards is considered from a politico‐economic perspective, and in light of socio‐historical and metallurgical data relevant to interregional developments in the contemporary Mediterranean world.