Bronze Age Cyprus Research Articles

Specialized Pottery Production on Bronze Age Cyprus and Pottery Use-wear Analysis

Cypriot archaeological pottery analysis has been characterized largely by descriptive, classificatory and chronological research. Furthermore, early analyses were biased geographically towards the north of the island and were almost totally reliant on material excavated from tombs. This paper investigates the question of specialized pottery production for funerary internment. The clarification of Prehistoric Bronze Age (c. 2400-1700 BC) pottery production will help elucidate arguments for increasing social complexity which frequently incorporate the specialized production of funerary or ritual pottery. Use-wear analysis is proposed as the most appropriate means of investigating the question of the specialized production of funerary pottery. Red Polished Pottery from cemetery and settlement sites of the Prehistoric Bronze Age in Cyprus is studied and compared for the presence and patterning of use-wear. The results suggest a domestic origin for much of the Red Polished Pottery recovered from Prehistoric Bronze Age tombs, a result that offers a far greater corpus of potential information about society at this period than initially perceived. The implications of these results also affect currently proposed models of pottery production and social behaviour in funerary contexts.

Hierarchies, Heterarchies, and Urbanization Processes: The View from Bronze Age Cyprus

Neo-evolutionist models of the rise of civilizations have attracted increasing criticism because the hierarchical, centrally organized politico-economic systems which they posit (i.e. chiefdoms and states) are not always evident in the archaeological record of societies in transition to urbanism or other modes of social complexity. Alternative models based on the concept of hierarchy, or complexity that is not necessarily associated with highly centralized socio-political hierarchies, offer a new way of analyzing and interpreting such cases. In this paper I consider urbanization processes in Late Bronze Age Cyprus, which diverge from the paradigm of hierarchy inasmuch as they seem to have begun in the absence of prior 'chiefdom' societies and culminated in the emergence of a number of autonomous regional polities with a diversity of hierarchical and hierarchical characteristics. I discuss the differing patterns of internal organization which these polities display and explore the possible reasons for those differences, focusing on variations in local settlement histories and geographical or logistical factors such as proximity to important copper resources.

On Cypriot Figurines and the Origins of Patriarchy

Previous articleNext article No AccessDiscussion and CriticismOn Cypriot Figurines and the Origins of PatriarchyDavid Frankel and Diane L. BolgerDavid Frankel Search for more articles by this author and Diane L. Bolger Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Current Anthropology Volume 38, Number 1Feb., 1997 Sponsored by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/204584 Views: 90Total views on this site Citations: 3Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1997 The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological ResearchPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article: Maria Mina Was It a Man's World? Gender Relationships at the Transition to the Bronze Age in Cyprus, Near Eastern Archaeology 79, no.33 (Nov 2018): 140–147.https://doi.org/10.5615/neareastarch.79.3.0140 Steven E. Falconer , Eilis M. Monahan , and Patricia L. Fall A Stone Plank Figure from Politiko-Troullia, Cyprus: Potential Implications for Inferring Bronze Age Communal Behavior, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 371 (Nov 2018): 3–16.https://doi.org/10.5615/bullamerschoorie.371.0003Steven E Falconer, Patricia L Fall Household and community behavior at Bronze Age Politiko- Troullia , Cyprus, Journal of Field Archaeology 38, no.22 (Feb 2014): 101–119.https://doi.org/10.1179/0093469013Z.00000000041

Provenience Studies and Bronze Age Cyprus: Production, Exchange and Politico-Economic Change

Provenience Studies and Bronze Age Cyprus: Production, Exchange and Politico-Economic Change

Provenience Studies and Bronze Age Cyprus: Production, Exchange and Politico-Economic Change. By A. Bernard Knapp and John F. Cherry.

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsProvenience Studies and Bronze Age Cyprus: Production, Exchange and Politico-Economic Change. By A. Bernard Knapp and John F. Cherry.Sturt W. ManningSturt W. Manning Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by American Journal of Archaeology Volume 100, Number 2April 1996 The journal of the Archaeological Institute of America Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/506911 Copyright © 1996 by the Archaeological Institute of America. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Aegyptiaca from Late Bronze Age Cyprus. Inga Jacobsson.

<i>Aegyptiaca from Late Bronze Age Cyprus</i>. Inga Jacobsson.

Provenience studies and Bronze Age Cyprus: production, exchange and politico-economic change

Provenience studies and Bronze Age Cyprus: production, exchange and politico-economic change

Cypriot Ceramics: Reading the Prehistoric Record. By Jane A. Barlow, Diane L. Bolger, and Barbara Kling.

List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgments Preface Foreword Bibliographic Abbreviations Introduction I. Toward Definition of the Late Chalcolithic in Cyprus: The Monochrome Pottery Debate II. Independent Variables? A Flexible Classification of Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic Pottery III. Early Red Polished Ware and the Origin of the Philia Culture IV. Reading the Prehistoric Record: A View from the South in the Late Third Millennium B.C. V. Beyond Regionalism: Toward an Islandwide Middle Cypriot Sequence VI. New Light on Red Polished Ware. 51 VII. The Classification of Middle Bronze Age Painted Pottery: Wares, Styles...Workshops? VIII. Problems of Definition of Local and Imported Fabrics of Late Cypriot Ware IX. Canaanite Pottery from Hala Sultan Tekke: Traditional Classification and Micro Colour Analysis (MCA) X. Red Lustrous Wheelmade Ware: A Product of Late Bronze Age Cyprus XI. A Preliminary Investigation of Systems of Ceramic Production and Distribution in Cyprus During the Late Bronze Age XII. Material and Technical Classification of Base Ring Ware: A New Fabric Typology XIII. The Pot Calls the Kettle Reddish Brown (5YR 3/4): Distinguishing among Late Cypriot Monochrome Wares XIV. Handmade Burnished Wares of the Late Bronze Age: Toward a Clearer Classification System XV. Late Bronze Age Grey Wares in Cyprus XVI. Cypriot Bronze Age Pottery and the Aegean XVII. LC IIC to LC IIIA without Intruders: The Case of Alassa-Pano Mandilaris XVIII. A Terminology for the Matte-Painted, Wheelmade Pottery of Late Cypriot IIC-IIIA XIX. Cypriot Pottery of Aegean Type in LC II-III: Problems of Classification, Chronology and Interpretation XX. Proto-White Painted Pottery: A Classification of the Ware XXI. Regional Classification of Cypriot Terra Cottas XXII. Techniques of Village Pottery Production XXIII. Ethnoarchaeological Evidence of Variation in Cypriot Ceramics and Its Implications for the Taxonomy of Ancient Pottery XXIV. The Principles of Cypriot Bronze Age Pottery Classification XXV. Ceramic Variability: Measurement and Meaning Index

Models of Local Exchange in Late Bronze Age Cyprus

During the Late Bronze Age in Cyprus, town centers and smaller sites with specialized productive and political-religious functions arose in the context of intensified copper exploitation and increasing long distance trade. This article explores the problem of how those sites were integrated in terms of settlement hierarchies and local exchange networks. Models of islandwide political hierarchy and market-based exchange are problematic. Alternative models of regional polities organized along the lines of wealth and staple finance (cf., D'Altroy and Earle 1985) are proposed, and the test implications by which those constructs may be evaluated in future archaeological research are specified.

Inter- and Intrasite Variability and Social Interaction in Prehistoric Bronze Age Cyprus: Types, Ranges, and Trends

Any study of social complexity must place the individual site within broader structures of relationship with others. Having accepted that considerable regional diversity existed in the earlier Bronze Age of Cyprus, we can now concentrate on measuring the intensity or nature of social interaction, or defining social boundaries. Until now we have lacked a common, appropriate system of ceramic description suitable for assessing variability within and between sites, and between regions. Conventional classifications usually force material into discrete types, which mask or exaggerate differences. In addition, scholars often compare individual artifacts, rather than total assemblages. Where pottery is described at an assemblage level, analyses can look beyond designated types toward a definition of ranges and trends. Such indications of comparative variability should provide better bases for defining location and form of boundaries, and for assessing the technological and idiographic transfer across them. Preliminary analyses of data from current excavations at the large Early to Middle Cypriot Bronze Age settlement of Marki Alonia are used to demonstrate aspects of this approach.

Copper and Bronze Working in Early through Middle Bronze Age Cyprus. By Judith Weinstein Balthazar.

Part 1 surveys the analyses of copper and copper artifacts manufactured prior to the late Bronze Age. Types of analyses include optical emission spectrography, atomic absorption spectrometry, x-ray fluorescence, neutron activation analysis, metallography, particle-induced x-ray emission (PIXE), and electron microprobe. Part 2 provides a comprehensive list of all the analyzed objects. Part 3 is a typological study.

The Absolute Chronology of the Bronze Age in Cyprus: A Revision

This article reviews recent developments in Cypriot chronology, based on settlement history, regional sequences, ceramic and other typologies, radiocarbon 14 dates, and international synchronisms. ...

Miscellanea from Late Bronze Age Cyprus

Miscellanea from Late Bronze Age Cyprus

Production, Location, and Integration in Bronze Age Cyprus [and Comments and Reply

Production, Location, and Integration in Bronze Age Cyprus [and Comments and Reply

2. Miscellanea From Late Bronze Age Cyprus

2. Miscellanea From Late Bronze Age Cyprus

Dimensions of Social Hierarchy in Late Bronze Age Cyprus

This paper examines the evidence for developments in social complexity accompanying the urbanization process at the Late Bronze Age site of Enkomi in Cyprus. The extent of variability in tomb architecture and assemblages of grave goods suggests that considerable differentiation in wealth and status had developed among the various groups residing at Enkomi at an early date. It is possible to document the presence of elite groups employing distinctive complements of prestige goods and politico-religious symbolism by the late Cypriote IIA period if not sooner. Changes in mortuary practice and elite symbolism towards the end of the Late Cypriote period may reflect a redefinition of the basis of status and political legitimacy as an increasingly complex framework of political and religious institutions emerged.

Pottery Production in Prehistoric Bronze Age Cyprus

Two alternative models for pottery production and distribution have been developed for prehistoric Bronze Age Cyprus. One favours commercial trade in pottery produced by specialists, the other a smaller-scale domestic industry. This paper develops a formal strategy for addressing this issue as well as the associated question of the source of vessels found in tombs. Problems in applying the approach are discussed, using a number of examples. The implications of each model for our understanding of the overall structure of society arc also considered.

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

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.

Alashiya, Caphtor/Keftiu, and Eastern Mediterranean Trade: Recent Studies in Cypriote Archaeology and History

AbstractThis article is a review of three recent monographs concerned with the later Middle Cypriote and Late Cypriote periods on Cyprus (ca. 1700–1200 B.C.). Each study focuses narrowly on archaeological, philological, or historical problems associated specifically with Cyprus or more generally with interrelations among Aegean, Cypriote, and eastern Mediterranean cultures. Oblivious to common interests, the authors reflect their own particularistic concerns: philology, toponymy, stone anchors. The three publications reviewed serve both as a framework and as a vehicle for presentation of a balanced discussion of archaeological, historical, and theoretical problems associated with Middle/Late Bronze Age Cyprus and its role in eastern Mediterranean maritime trade. In conclusion, and as an alternative, a concise synthesis of cultural and socio-historical patterns on Cyprus ca. 1700–1200 B.C. is presented.The three volumes under review are: L. Hellbing, Alasia Problems. StudMedArch 57 (P. Astrom's Forlag: Got...

Composite Anchors in Late Bronze Age Cyprus

Composite Anchors in Late Bronze Age Cyprus