Knapp, A. Bernard. Ethnicity, Entrepreneurship, And Exchange, Mediterranean Inter-Island Relations...

Ethnicity, Entrepreneurship, and Exchange: Mediterranean Inter-Island Relations in the LateBronze AgeAuthor(s): A. Bernard KnappSource: The Annual of the British School at Athens, Vol. 85 (1990), pp. 115-153Published by: British School at AthensStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30102844 .Accessed: 23/02/2015 17:57

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ETHNICITY, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, AND EXCHANGE: MEDITERRANEAN INTER-ISLAND RELATIONS IN THE LATE

BRONZE AGE* ... a misdirected missionary zeal ... seeks to bring British 'ideas archaeology' (which for obvious reasons is non-artifact oriented) to bear on the European country [Italy] to which it is perhaps least appropriate.'

But before the prehistory of the western Mediterranean is once again peopled by enterprising traders whose activities provide the driving force for the diffusion of artifacts and monuments and for similarities in insular evolution, a critical view of the archaeological evidence is required.2

INTRODUCTION

In a prominent and influential article dedicated to Hector W. Catling and published in the 1985 volume of the Papers of the British School at Rome, Lo Schiavo, Macnamara and Vagnetti presented a range of Late Bronze Age ceramic and metal artifacts thought to be of Cypriot origin or inspiration and recovered from a variety of contexts in the central Mediterranean (Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia). Whereas their intention, clearly stated, was to offer a comprehensive typological discussion of presumed Late Cypriot imports to Italy and the West, they could not help but raise vital issues of chronology, context, and cultural contact.3 They suggested that contemporary (I2th century BC) sociopolitical disruption in the Mediterranean may have resulted in the settlement of 'Cypriot metalworkers' in Sardinia4 and noted all the attendant implications for the interpretation of Mediterranean production and exchange systems in an era that witnessed differential emphasis on the production, distribution, and consumption of metals in the east and central/west Mediterranean.5

* Acknowledgements. The initial draft of this paper was written whilst the author held a Fulbright Fellowship at the Cyprus-American Archaeological Research Institute (CAARI) in Nicosia; thanks are due to Dr Stuart Swiny, Director of CAARI, and to Daniel Hadjittofi, Executive Director of the Fulbright Commission in Nicosia, for their positive support and assistance.

Whereas the subject matter of this study bears directly on the interdisciplinary, multi-institutional project with which the author is currently affiliated at Cambridge University (Science and Archaeology: Bronze Age Trade Patterns in the Aegean and Adjacent Areas: funded by the British Academy and the Leverhulme Trust), the research represents an individual effort, not a Project viewpoint or statement. However, because many of the metallurgical data discussed are still in the course of publication, or still being written up, I am most grateful to colleagues in the Project (N.H. Gale, Z. Stos-Gale, C. Macdonald, R.E. Jones) and elsewhere (J.D. Muhly, P.M. Day) for providing relevant papers and information. I also wish to thank Peter Day, Lucia Vagnetti, and Richard Jones for comments on a much earlier draft of certain parts of the text. The map (Figure I) was very capably drawn by John Donaldson, Museum of Classical Archaeology, Cambridge University.

Abbreviations

Lo Schiavo et al. 1985: F. Lo Schiavo, E. Macnamara, and L. Vagnetti, 'Late Cypriote imports to Italy and their influence on local bronzework', PBSR 53 (1985) 1-71.

' D. Ridgway and F. Ridgway, Italy before the Romans (London 1979) ix.

2 R. Chapman, 'The later prehistory of western Medi- terranean Europe,' Advances in World Archaeology 4 (1985) 146 (II5-I88). 3 Lo Schiavo et al. I985.

4 H.W. Catling, 'Workshop and heirloom: prehistoric bronze stands in the Mediterranean,' RDAC (1984) 91 (69-91); H. Matthius, 'Heirloom or tradition? Bronze stands of the second and first millennium B.C. in Cyprus, Greece and Italy,' in E.B. French & K.A. Wardle eds., Problems in Greek Prehistory (Bristol 1988), 285-300; idem, 'Cyprus and Sardinia in the early first millennium B.C.,' in E.J. Peltenburg ed., Proceedings of the Conference: Early Society in Cyprus (Edinburgh) (244-55).

5 Lo Schiavo et al. 1985, 63; F. Lo Schiavo, 'Sardinian metallurgy: the archaeological background,' in M. Bal- muth (ed.), Studies in Sardinian Archaeology 2: Sardinia in the Mediterranean (Ann Arbor, I986) 245 (231-250).


16 A. BERNARD KNAPP

In a conceptually quite different but equally significant paper Bietti Sestieri re- evaluates the Aegean presence in the central Mediterranean.6 She not only presents a comprehensive overview of the ceramic, metallurgical, mortuary, and inscriptional evidence, and an important discussion of spatial variation in the distribution of Aegean materials (Apulia and Calabria vs. Sicily and the Aeolian Islands), but also formulates a well-structured, processual model that seeks to account for developing socio-cultural complexity and politico-economic change in the central Mediterranean as it affected and was affected by long-term contact and interaction with eastern Mediterranean - particularly Aegean - polities or peoples. Whereas Italian and Aegean prehistorians alike have discussed possible demographic, politico-economic, and historical reasons for this 'Mycenaean connection,' often from contrasting perspectives,7 Bietti Sestieri links socio- structural inferences (e.g. about differences between Aegean and Italian polities) explicitly and diachronically to the archaeological record, and subsequently assesses develop- mental and functional aspects of intercultural contact, and of changes in relationships within and between polities.

The present work takes another, preliminary step toward a broad-based reconsideration of interregional Mediterranean contacts during the Late Bronze Age. Rather than exhaustive coverage of all aspects treated (for which see the specialist studies cited), I attempt to evaluate relevant data with respect to longer-term trends and politico- economic processes. The first section summarizes new finds of Cypriot (or Cypriot-style) and Aegean (or Aegean-style) material recovered in the eastern (Ulu Burun wreck deposit), southern (Marsa' Matruh), and central Mediterranean (Sardinia, Sicily, and Italy). This material has altered significantly time-worn concepts about the scope and extent of Mediterranean trade systems. The next section discusses recent metallurgical analyses and their ongoing statistical assessment. Results of this metallurgical research underscore once again the importance of copper production and exchange to the Bronze Age economies of Cyprus, Sardinia, and Crete. In this context, evidence for local production or distribution of copper on Cyprus and Sardinia is presented. Finally, an enquiry into the role of local production in the Mediterranean metals' trade prompts exploratory hypotheses on the provenance of some ingots and artifacts, on the orientation and ethnicity of Bronze Age trade and traders, and on the economic vitality and purpose of Cypriot copper production in the emergent Early Iron Age.

BACKGROUND

It has become a commonplace to observe that the island of Cyprus, tucked into the north-eastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea, often served as a bridgehead between Europe (particularly the Aegean), Asia, and Africa. Cyprus has repeatedly been involved in their struggles for economic and political dominion in the eastern Mediterranean. Cyprus' role in the broader Mediterranean world, however, and particularly its relationships

6 A.M. Bietti Sestieri, 'The "Mycenaean Connection" and its impact on the central Mediterranean societies,' DialArch 6 (1988) 23-51. This approach was eschewed by Lo Schiavo et al. I985.

7 R. Peroni, 'Presenze micene e forme socio- economiche nell' Italia protostorica,' Atti di XXII Convegno di Studi sulla Magna Grecia: Magna Grecia e Mondo Miceneo

(Taranto 1985) 211-284; Bietti Sestieri (supra n.6) 23-24; M. Marazzi, 'Contributi allo studio della 'Societa Micenea' III: documentazione e valore dei primi traffici d'Oltremare,' Quaderni Urbinati di Cultura Classica 15 (1983) 147-170; idemn 'La piii antich marineria micenea in occi- dente,' DialArch 6 (1988) 5-22.


MEDITERRANEAN INTER-ISLAND RELATIONS IN THE LATE BRONZE AGE 117

with the central or western Mediterranean, seldom receive attention from archaeologists or historians, despite an early interest in east and west Mediterranean interrelations,8 and despite the long-term evidence of maritime interaction in the Mediterranean.9

This situation has been conditioned at least partly by ex Oriente Lux concepts of technological and cultural diffusion from east to west, championed by Montelius, Childe, and a host of subsequent Aegean and eastern Mediterranean scholars.'0 As the quotations which head this study indicate, the debate rages on, with a fervour little reduced from the era of the 'Radiocarbon Revolution' that precipitated it all."

Whereas many archaeologists working in the central and western Mediterranean have rejected the concept of an eastern Mediterranean 'core' versus a western Mediterranean 'periphery',12 there is no doubt that detailed knowledge on chronology, material culture, and settlement patterns available for the eastern Mediterranean finds no match farther west.'3 Although serious problems with chronology impede research in the central and western Mediterranean,14 a series of obsidian hydration dates and (uncalibrated) radiocarbon dates from several Nuragic sites suggest initial occupation somewhere between 2000-1500 BC.15

Although recent research trends on Prehistoric Bronze Age Cyprus (Middle and Late Cypriot eras [MC, LC] - ca.I700oo-I I o00 BC) misleadingly assign to copper production the status of a prime mover, it is impossible to ignore the role played by the production, distribution, and use of copper ingots in a metals-hungry Bronze Age world. Metallurgical research teams have reached a very shaky consensus on what might be called the 'fingerprint' of Cypriot copper,'6 but other key 'fingerprints' of disputed source have also been isolated. Even if it is agreed that there was a koine of metalworking technology - notably the smelting, re-melting, and casting of raw copper into ingot form - in the eastern Mediterranean and Aegean,'7 what is the relationship of that koine to copper production and exchange in Sardinia and the central Mediterranean?

Combined with archaeological discoveries of the Ig8os, analytical and statistical results

8 0. Montelius, 'The Tyrrhenians in Greece and Italy,' JRAI 26 (1897) 254-261.

9 F. Braudel, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. Vol. I. (New York 1972); A.B. Knapp and T. Stech eds., Prehistoric Production and Exchange: The Aegean and East Mediterranean (UCLA Institute of Archaeo- logy, Monograph 25, Los Angeles); Marazzi (1983, 1988, supra n.7); M. Marazzi and S. Tusa, 'Die Mykenische Penetration im westlichen Mittelmeerraum: Probleme und Voraussetzungen bei der Gestaltung einer Forschung fiber die italienischen und sizilianischen Handelszentren,' Klio 6I (I979) 309-35I; A. Raban ed., Harbour Archaeology (BAR International Series 257, Oxford 1985); idem ed., Archaeology of Coastal Changes (BAR International Series 404, Oxford 1988).

1o Montelius (supra n.8); V.G. Childe, The Dawn of European Civilization. Ist Edition (London 1925); discussion in A.C. Renfrew, Approaches to Social Archaeology (Edinburgh 1984) I69-I175.

" A.C. Renfrew, Before Civilization (Cambridge 1973). 12 Cf. Marazzi and Tusa (supra n.9). 1 Chapman (supra n.2) I1I5-116; cf. S. Frankenstein

and MJ. Rowlands, 'The internal structure and regional context of early Iron Age Society in south-western Ger-

many,' Bulletin of Inst. of Arch. Univ. London 15 (1978) 73 (73-112).

14 A. Harding, The Mycenaeans and Europe (Orlando I984) 277-278; N.H. Gale and Z.A. Stos-Gale, 'Oxhide ingots from Sardinia, Crete and Cyprus and the Bronze Age copper trade: new scientific evidence,' in M.S. Balmuth ed., Studies in Sardinian Archaeology 3 (BAR International Series 387, Oxford 1987), 146 (135-178).

15 L. Gallin, 'The prehistoric towers of Sardinia,' Arch- aeology 40.5 (1987) 33 (26-33); G.S. Webster, 'Duos Nuraghes: preliminary results of the first three seasons of excavation,'JFA 15 (1988) 466-467 (465-472).

'6J.D. Muhly, 'Copper and tin ingots and the Bronze Age metals trade,' paper presented at the Sixth Interna- tional Colloquium on Aegean Prehistory (Athens, 1987); J.D. Muhly, R. Maddin, and T. Stech, 'Cyprus, Crete and Sardinia: copper oxhide ingots and the metals trade,' RDAC (1988) 290-292 (281-298).

'7J.D. Muhly, 'The nature of trade in the Late Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean: the organization of the metals' trade and the role of Cyprus,' in J.D. Muhly, R. Maddin, and V. Karageorghis eds., Early Metallurgy in Cyprus (Nicosia 1982) 254-256 (251-266).


i1i8 A. BERNARD KNAPP

of recent Lead Isotope (LIA), Neutron Activation (NAA), Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS), and Proton-Induced X-Ray Emission (PIXE) analyses have prompted a whole new set of questions about I3th-I2th century BC Mediterranean trade patterns. Why did demand for eastern Mediterranean goods (including copper?) apparently intensify at this time in western Mediterranean markets, especially in southern Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia? What role, if any, did Cypriote or Aegean entrepreneurs play in Sardinian copper production? And why? How does Kommos on Crete, with its striking array of Cypriot (and Italian) pottery, oxhide ingots, and stone anchors fit into this revamped and extended picture? What trade pattern is implied by goods recovered from the late i4th century BC Ulu Burun wreck deposit, and how does the (chiefly Cypriot) evidence from Marsa' Matruh correspond to any proposed I3th-I2th century BC scenario?

Answers to these questions necessitate careful consideration of two basic issues:'18 I) did the attraction of eastern Mediterranean trade, and the wealth associated with it, stimulate metals' production and intensify exchange mechanisms within the western Mediterranean?19 2) or did eastern Mediterranean entrepreneurs simply exploit an existing politico- economic system that somehow monitored metals' production in the west, particularly on Sardinia?20

MEDITERRANEAN PRODUCTION AND EXCHANGE: NEW DATA

Despite claims that the metallurgical resources of the west - particularly tin from Spain, Brittany, or Cornwall - may have sparked the occidental voyages of Mycenaeans or Cypriotes,21 in truth our understanding of the mechanisms of Mediterranean trade is still at such a basic level that almost anyone - including the Sardinians (Sherden ?) - could be posited as the westward bearers of eastern materials.22 Furthermore, although Aegean frescoes or Mediterranean polyculture may be evocative of a certain 'Mediterranean-ness,' the material reality of the occidental Mediterranean is not some 'rough-hewn provincial copy' of the oriental Mediterranean.23 Even though the accepted concept of the insular west Mediterranean 'warrior-chief has been challenged,24 the defensibility and fastness of Sardinian nuraghi, Corsican torri and castelli, and Balearic talayots stand in stark contrast to unwalled Minoan palaces or more moderately defended Cypriot centres.25

'18 Chapman (supra n.2) 123. 19 See, for example, W. Taylour, Mycenaean Pottery in Italy

and Adjacent Areas (Cambridge I958); S.A. Immerwahr, 'Mycenaean trade and colonization,' Archaeology 13.1 (1960) 8-9 (4-i3); R. Whitehouse, 'The earliest towns in peninsular Italy,' in A.C. Renfrew ed., The Explanation of Culture Change: Models in Prehistory (London 1973) 617-624; A.C. Renfrew and R. Whitehouse, 'The Copper Age of peninsular Italy and the Aegean,' BSA 69 (i974) 359 (343-390).

20 Harding (supra n.I4) 283; Lo Schiavo (supra n.5); Lo Schiavo et al. 1985, 13; L. Vagnetti 'Cypriot elements beyond the Aegean in the Bronze Age,' in V. Karageorghis ed., Acts of the International Archaeological Symposium: Cyprus between the Orient and Occident (Nicosia 1986) 201i-216.

21 Vagnetti (supra n.20). 22 R.J. Rowland, Jr. Review of M. Balmuth ed., Studies in

Sardinian Archaeology 2: Sardinia in the Mediterranean (Ann

Arbor, 1986), in AJA 91 (1987) 496-497; R.H. Tykot, 'The Sea Peoples in Sicily, Sardinia and Etruria: a re- examination of the archaeological and textual evidence in light of recent research.' (Paper presented at the Archaeo- logical Congress, Baltimore, January 1989).

23J.G. Lewthwaite, 'Mesogeopolitics: the growth of social complexity in the Mediterranean context.' (Paper presented at Prehistoric Society Conference, London, I987).

24J.G. Lewthwaite, 'Nuragic foundations: an alternate model of development in Sardinian prehistory ca. 250- 1500 B.C.,' in M. Balmuth ed., Studies in Sardinian Archaeo- logy 2: Sardinia in the Mediterranean (Ann Arbor 1986) 29 (18-37).

25 R. Chapman and A. Grant, 'The Talayotic monuments of Mallorca: formation processes and function,' Oxford Journal of Archaeology 8 (1989) 55-72; Lewthwaite (supra n.23).


440

80

120

160

200

240

KEY

TO

SITE

SYMBOLS

Metallurgical

(Ores,

Production,

Exchange)

Ceramic

(Exchange)

0 AB

Knopp

1989

0

30 km

LAPITHOS

VASILIA

VOUNOS

MYRTOU

PIGADHES

TOUMBA

TOU

SKOUROU

Mesooria

Plain

SKOURIOTISSA

ATHIENOU TROULLI

MATHIATI

ENKOMI

KALOPSIDHA OPYLA KITION HALA

SULTAN

TEKKE

MARONI

KALAVASOS

Troodos

Mtns

ALASSA

AMBELIKOU / APLIKI

4

KISSONERGA

LEMBA

ERGANI

MADEN

ANATOLIA

ANTALYA

Cilicia

360

UGARIT

RAS

IBN

HANII

LAPITHOS

TOUMBA

TOU

SKOUROUL

CAPE GELIDONYA

ULU LBURUNL

320

TELL

ED-DAB'A

EGYPT

280

KOM

RABIA

(MEMPHIS)

320

KFAR

SAMIR

HA-

HOTRIM

TEL

MIQNE

'ENKOMI

KALAVASOS/ MARONI

KI ITION

)

ALA

SULTAN

TEKKE

CYPRUS

240

0

200

400

km

200

LIBYA 160

N. DOMU

S'ORKU

N ANTIGORI

SA DUCHESSA

N. CORTI

BECCIA

BACCU

SIM;EONE

PBARUMINI N.NIEDDIU SERRA

IIXIl

FUNTANA

RAMINOSA

ONUORO

eOROSEI

N FUNTANA

MARA THARROS

ITTIRI

N ALBUCCIU

0

50 km

Key

to Greece

1 MYCENAE

2 TIRYNS

3 KYME

4 LAURION

5 KEGS

6 CHIOS

7

SYROS 8 THERA

9

KYTHERA

10

PYLOS

PANTALICA

CANATEL

LO

pTHAPSOS

Sicily

-CAPO PICCOLO

Ionian

Sea

Aeolian

Is

LIPARI

*0

N DOMU

S'ORKU N ANTIGORI

Sardinia

THARROS

400

Tyrrhenian

Sea

BROGLIO

DI TREBISAC'c

Gulf

of

Taranto

TERMITITO,

Phlegrean

Is

VIVARA4

4N. ALBUCCIU OCorsica

ITALY

GREECE

BRINDISI

,SCOGLIO

DEL

TONNO.

GARGANO

yTroad

Aegean

Sea Cyclades

KARPATHOS

Rhodes

Crete

Key

to Crete

1 KHANIA

2 TYLISSOS

3 KNOSSOS

4 ARKALOCHORI

5 GOURNIA

6 SYME

7 PALAIKASTRO

8 ZAKRO

9 ARKHANES

10 KOMMOS

11 AYIA

TRIADHA

/ PHAISTOS

MARSA

MATRUH

Cyrenaica

Gulf

of Sidra

Adriatic

Sea


120 A. BERNARD KNAPP

Because so much new material representing contact of some sort between the east and central Mediterranean, or within those respective areas, comes to light in ongoing excavations each year (e.g. Aegean - or 'Aegean-style' - and Cypriot material in Sicily, Sardinia, and peninsular Italy; a wide range of material on the Ulu Burun shipwreck; Cypriot, Mycenaean, Levantine and/or west Mediterranean material at Kommos or Khania in Crete, and at Marsa' Matruh in western Egypt), at this stage only a preliminary and cursory tally can be provided. Nonetheless, from the viewpoint of the eastern Mediterranean, and with a glance at evidence from other areas or time periods in the Mediterranean, it is possible to make some empirically-based statements about pattern and process in circum-Mediterranean trade during the Bronze Age.

In the eastern Mediterranean, the most dramatic and extensive new material comes from the Ulu Burun shipwreck.26 Foremost are the 200oo-plus copper oxhide ingots (compared to 34 on the Cape Gelidonya shipwreck), at least 39 copper bun ingots, an unspecified number of heretofore unidentified two-handled copper ingots,27 and more than 40 tin ingots and ingot fragments, of which at least 17 are recognizably oxhide in shape.28 About I30 Canaanite amphorae, seven large pithoi that recall Late Cypriot (LC) IIC-IIIA types, a variety of Levantine lamps and pilgrim flasks, and the i8 Cypriot vessels and 5 Cypriot or Levantine lamps found in two of the large pithoi all represent the ceramic cargo of the ship.29 The seven Mycenaean vessels recovered thus far - mostly late Helladic (LH) IIIA2 in date - are regarded as shipboard items, not objects for exchange.30 Amongst the wide variety of other material are a Mycenaean (merchant's?) seal, a Kassite-type quartz cylinder seal and an Old Babylonian haematite cylinder seal;3' a variety of bronze tools and weapons, balance-pan weights, a gold cup and gold and silver jewellery; a faience ram's-head rhyton, ivory, ebony, glass ingots, beads, faience, shell, and far more.32

Along the Syro-Palestinian coast, recent finds near Haifa include: from Kfar Samir, five bun-like tin ingots, three inscribed with what are argued to be Cypro-Minoan signs;33 from Ha-Hotrim, two rectangular tin ingots, also engraved with signs resembling those of the Cypro-Minoan syllabary.34 Muhly has suggested that two 'risidu du font' identified by Schaeffer at Ugarit may in fact be copper oxhide ingot fragments.35 A unique and important new find comes from Ras Ibn Hani: an open-faced limestone mould for casting copper oxhide ingots.36

26 G.F. Bass, 'A Bronze Age shipwreck at Ulu Burun (Kas): 1984 campaign,' AJA 90 (1986) 269-296; G.F. Bass, Q. Pulak, D. Collon, and J. Weinstein, 'The Bronze Age shipwreck at Ulu Burun: I986 campaign,' AJA 93 (1989) 1-29; Q. Pulak, 'The Bronze Age shipwreck at Ulu Burun, Turkey: 1985 campaign,' AJA 92 (1988) 1-37.

27 Q. Pulak and C. Haldane, 'Ulu Burun, the Late Bronze Age Shipwreck: the fourth excavation campaign,' Institute of Nautical Archaeology, Newsletter 15.1 (I988) 4, fig. 5 ('-4).

28 Bass et al. (supra n.26) 7; Pulak (supra n.26) 6-io; metallic tin is now reported also from the Cape Gelidonya wreck: G.F. Bass, 'Return to Cape Gelidonya,' Institute of Nautical Archaeology, Newsletter 15.2 (1988) 5 (2-5).

29 Additional Cypriot pottery recovered during the 1987 season is reported by Pulak and Haldane (supra n.27) 3.

3o Bass et al. (supra n.26) 12; Pulak (supra n.26) 37. 31 Collon, in Bass et al. (supra n.26) 12-16. 32 For the most recent accounts, see G.F. Bass, 'Splen-

dours of the Bronze Age,' National Geographic Magazine I72 (1987) 693-733; Bass et al. (supra n.26); Pulak and Hal- dane (supra n.27).

3 E. Galili, N. Shmueli, and M. Artzy, 'Bronze Age ship's cargo of copper and tin,' IJNA 15 (1986) 25-37.

34 R. Maddin, T.S. Wheeler, and J.D. Muhly, 'Tin in the ancient Near East: old questions and new finds,' Expedition 19.2 (1977) 45-47 (35-47).

S35C.F.A. Schaeffer, Ugaritica III (Mission de Ras Shamra 7; Bibliothbque Archdologique et Historique 64, Paris, 1956) 269; Muhly, Maddin and Stech (supra n.I6) 294.

36 J. Lagarce, E. Lagarce, E. Bounni, and N. Saliby, 'Les fouilles k Ras Ibn Hani en Syrie, CRAI (1983) 277-290 (249-290); for analysis of spillage from this mould, see Z.A. Stos-Gale, and N.H. Gale, 'The role of Thera in the Bronze Age metals trade,' in D.H. Hardy ed., Thera and the Aegean World III (London 1990) fig. IO.



On Cyprus, where Mycenaean imports and their local imitations or derivations have long been known and discussed,37 the evidence most relevant to the present discussion reveals a dynamic period of urbanization during LC IIC, the I3th century BC,38 and the intensification of copper production not only at Enkomi,39 but at many of these new urban centres: Kition,40 Kalavasos Ayios Dhimitrios,4' Alassa Pano Mantilares,42 and Maroni Vournes.43 For Muhly,44 this urban expansion and the prominence of Mycenaean material on Cyprus suggest the establishment of an extensive copper trade between Cyprus and the Mycenaean world, a suggestion not contradicted by new metallurgical analyses (see below). Peltenburg links this LC IIC urban explosion and the renewed emphasis on Cypriot copper production to direct Cypriot-Egyptian contact (as opposed to Ugarit as intermediary), now firmly established through extensive finds of Cypriot material excavated at Marsa' Matruh (see below).45

In the Aegean, excavations at (Late Minoan [LM] IIIA2-IIIB) Kommos and (LM IIIC) Khania have revealed important new evidence for Late Bronze trade. Although B. Hallager has identified 'Italian' metal objects and ceramics at Khania, Vagnetti has questioned these identifications and for the moment the matter should remain sub judice.46 Even if the existence of copper oxhide ingot fragments at Khania has not yet been confirmed,47 whole or fragmentary ingots have been identified at Ayia Triadha (19), Tylissos, Palaikastro, Zakro (6), Gournia (4), Syme (I), and Kommos (6). Also from Kommos, Watrous has identified imported ceramics from the Aegean, the central Mediterranean,48 Anatolia, Egypt (21 items), the Levant (21I Canaanite jars), and Cyprus (WS II bowls, Base-ring juglet, Plain White pithos, Red Lustrous spindle bottle, Monochrome fragment, White Shaved juglet).49

37 E.S. Sherratt and J.H. Crouwel, 'Mycenaean pottery from Cilicia in Oxford,' OJA 6 (1987) 325-352; A.K. South, 'Kalavasos-Ayios Dhimitrios 1987: an important ceramic group from building X,' RDAC (1988) 223-228; M. Iacovou, The Pictorial Pottery of Eleventh Century BC Cyprus (SIMA 78, Gdteborg, 1989); B. Kling, Mycenaean IIICI:b and Related Pottery in Cyprus (SIMA, 87 G6teborg, I989).

38 O. Negbi, 'The climax of urban development in Bronze Age Cyprus,' RDAC (1986) 97-121.

39J. Lagarce and E. Lagarce, 'Les d6couvertes d'Enkomi et leur place dans la culture internationale du Bronze Ricent: la metallurgie,' in J.-C. Courtois, J. Lag- arce and E. Lagarce, Enkomi et le Bronze Ricent en Chypre (Nicosia, 1986) 60-Ioo; Muhly et al. (supra n.I6) 294.

40 T. Stech, R. Maddin, and J.D. Muhly, 'Copper production at Kition in the Late Bronze Age,' in V. Karageorghis & M. Demas, Excavations at Kition V.I: The Pre-Phoenician Levels (Nicosia 1985) 388-402.

41 A.K. South, 'Contacts and contrasts in Late Bronze Age Cyprus: the Vasilikos Valley and the West,' in D.W. Rupp ed., Western Cyprus: Connections (SIMA 77, G6teborg) 83-95.

42 S. Hadjisavvas, 'Alassa. A new Late Cypriote Site,' RDAC (1986) 62-67.

43 G. Cadogan, 'Maroni and the Late Bronze Age of Cyprus,' in V. Karageorghis and J.D. Muhly (eds.), Cyprus at the Close of the Late Bronze Age (Nicosia) i-Io; idem, 'Maroni III,' RDAC (1987) 83 (81-84); idem, 'Maroni IV,' RDAC (1988) 23o-231 (229-232).

44 Muhly (supra n.I6). 45 E.J. Peltenburg, 'Ramesside Egypt and Cyprus,' in

V. Karageorghis ed., Acts of the International Archaeological Symposium: Cyprus between the Orient and Occident (Nicosia 1986) I66-I69 (I49-I79); D. White, '1985 excavations on Bate's Island, Marsa Matruh,']JARCE 22 (1986) 51-84.

46 B.P. Hallager, 'A new social class in Late Bronze Age Crete: foreign traders in Khania,' in L. Nixon & O. Krzykowska eds., Minoan Society (Bristol 1983) 11 1-I 119; idem, 'Crete and Italy in the Late Bronze Age III period,' AJA 89 (1985) 293-305; L. Vagnetti, 'Late Minoan III Crete and Italy: another view,' La Parola del Passato 220 (1985) 29-33.

47 Muhly et al. (supra n.I6), 215. 48 L.V. Watrous, 'A preliminary report on imported

'Italian' wares from the Late Bronze Age site of Kommos on Crete,' SMEA 27 (1989) 69-79, discusses 53 'Italian' vases with close parallels from the Nuraghi Antigori and Domu d'Orku (Sarroch) in Sardinia - some of these wares may be subject to the qualifications raised by Vagnetti (supra n.46) with regard to the slightly later Khania material.

49 L.V. Watrous, 'Foreign trade at the Minoan harbour town of Kommos: the Late Bronze Age imported pottery.' Paper presented at the Sixth International Colloquium on Aegean Prehistory (Athens, I987); R.E. Jones and P. Day, 'Aegean-type pottery on Sardinia: identification of imports and local imitations by chemical analysis,' in M.S. Bal- muth ed., Studies in Sardinian Archaeology 3: Nuragic Sardinia and the Mycenaean World (BAR International Series 387, Oxford) 259, 262 (257-270); for Middle Cypriot material at Kommos, see P.J. Russell, 'A Middle Cypriot jug from Kommos, Crete,' in P.P. Betancourt ed., Temple University Aegean Symposium Io (Philadelphia), 42-50.



Watrous has made important chronological and cultural observations about this material: thus far it appears that the bulk of these imports - particularly those from Cyprus and western Asia - arrived at Kommos during LM IIIAI. Whilst Mycenaean and central Mediterranean material becomes more common in LM IIIA2-IIIB, imports from western Asia and Cyprus fall off markedly. Watrous interprets this changing relationship as evidence for the decline of Cypriot (or 'Near Eastern') metal resources during the i3th century BC, and their replacement by western sources; Haskell has also noted a possible change in the nature of Crete's external contacts at this time.50 This suggestion accords well with one viewpoint based on metallurgical analyses, but contradicts another (see below). Finally, Watrous notes that foreign pottery of all types from Kommos far outnumbers that from such well-excavated Aegean sites as Knossos, Phaistos, Mycenae, or Tiryns, a factor which stresses the key role of the seaport in contrast to its hinterland.

On the Greek mainland, Cypriot or 'Levanto-Helladic' material is still thin on the ground,51 although new finds from Tiryns provide the exception: a Cypriot White Slip bowl52 and other fragments;53 a Cypriot White Shaved juglet;54 'Levanto-Helladic' shallow bowls;55 at least ten Levanto-Cypriot wall brackets.56 An oxhide ingot fragment is also reported from Tiryns, along with others from Mycenae, Kyme (Boeotia), Ayia Irini (Keos), and Emporio on Chios.57

Excavations during 1985 and 1987 at Marsa' Matruh ('Bate's Island'), at the eastern limits of the Marmaric coast in western Egypt, have uncovered copious remains of imported pottery, mostly Cypriot (80% of all Late Bronze sherds recovered thus far) but including Aegean and Levantine types:58 over I5o WS II sherds (including 22 - with a single WS I example - excavated by Oric Bates in 1913/14 and stored in the Peabody Museum at Harvard University), 40 Base-ring I and II sherds, fragments of four White Shaved juglets, and examples of Red Lustrous, Plain White, Pithos, and Monochrome wares. Levantine materials include fragments of a transport amphora, a Canaanite jar, and a lamp. Pamela Russell has identified two Minoan and three Mycenaean sherds.59

Although local 'Libyan' wares and ostrich-eggshells are argued to belong to an indigenous, semi-nomadic element,60 it must be emphasized that the Berber Libyans of the Bronze Age practised only highly mobile, semi-nomadic subsistence pursuits;61 their

50 H.W. Haskell, 'LM III Knossos: evidence beyond the palace,' SMEA 27 (1989) 90 (8I-Iio).

51 Y. Portugali and A.B. Knapp, 'Cyprus and the Aegean: a spatial analysis of interaction in the I7th-I4th centuries B.C.,' in A.B. Knapp & T. Stech eds., Prehistoric Production and Exchange: The Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean (UCLA Institute of Archaeology, Monograph 25, Los Angeles) 77-78 (44-78).

52 K. Kilian, 'Ausgrabungen in Tiryns 1978, 1979. Bericht zu den Grabungen. AA (1982) 170, 184 fig. 40.5 (I4-I94).

53 K. Kilian, 'Ausgrabungen in Tiryns I982/83. Bericht zu den Grabungen,' AA (1988/1), 121 (Io5-151); G. Touchais, 'Chronique des fouilles et dtcouvertes archio- logiques en Grece en 1982,' BCH o107 (1983) 761 (745-838).

54 K. Kilian, 'Ausgrabungen in Tiryns. Bericht zu den Grabungen,' AA (1983) 304, fig. 15.14 (277-328).

55 C. Podzuweit, 'Ausgrabungen in Tiryns 1978-1979. Bericht zur spaitmykenischen Keramik,' AA (1981) 199, fig. 51 (194-220); idem, 'Bericht zur splitmykenischen Kera-

mik. Ausgrabungen in Tiryns 1981,' AA (1983) 399-400, fig. 18 (359-402).

56 Kilian (supra n.53) 127; Touchais (supra n.53) 761, fig. 31.

57 S. Hood, Excavations in Chios (Oxford, 1982) 665; see also Z.A. Stos-Gale and N.H. Gale, 'Metal sources and the metal trade in the Bronze Age Aegean,' Bulletin, Inst. Classical Studies, Univ. London 32 (1985) 158 (157-158); A.B. Knapp, J.D. Muhly, and P.M. Muhly, 'To hoard is human: the metal deposits of LC IIC-LC III,' RDAC (1I988) 234, fig. i (233-262).

58 White (supra n.45) 76-79. 59 Ibid., 78, figs. 33-34. 60 Ibid., 79; D. Conwell, 'On ostrich eggs and Libyans,'

Expedition 29.3 (1987) 29-34. 6' A.B. Knapp, 'The Thera frescoes and the question of

Aegean contact with Libya during the Late Bronze Age,' Journal of Mediterranean Anthropology and Archaeology I (1981) 269 (249-279).



use of pottery cannot be confirmed. Most of the pharaonic Egyptian pottery from Marsa' Matruh was found in association with metalworking debris: a few bronze artifacts, lumps of slag, and a half dozen crucible fragments (to which were attached bits of bronze).62 Such finds suggest at least limited metallurgical activity, perhaps not unexpected given the predominantly Cypriot character of the ceramic remains.

Excavator Donald White has plausibly suggested that Marsa' Matruh may have served as a summer revictualing station for 'Mediterranean traders' en route from Crete to the Egyptian delta, the Levantine coast, and on to Cyprus.63 Whereas the (foreign) inhabitants of the island obviously had close connections with Cyprus (Cypriot coarse wares predominate over finer wares by 5"I),64 and while the exact relationship of those inhabitants to indigenous peoples may shed needed light on Bronze Age demographic patterns in the area from el-Alamein west to the Cyrenaica,65 the real significance of Marsa' Matruh lies in its unequivocal material links to Bronze Age Mediterranean exchange systems.

In this context, it is worth noting that recent excavations at Kom Rabia (Memphis), conducted under the aegis of the Egypt Exploration Society,66"" have uncovered Cypriot Base-ring I and Red Lustrous sherds in an early I8th Dynasty context, Cypriot Base-ring II sherds and many Canaanite amphorae in early i9th Dynasty contexts. That Cypriot contacts (of undetermined nature) with Egypt existed by the Second Intermedi- ate Period is revealed by material from earlier levels at Kom Rabia67 and from Tell ed-Dab'a."68

The most abundant corpus of new data relevant to this study derives from the central Mediterranean. Discoveries of Aegean and Cypriot material (or local imitations of it) in Italy, Sicily, the Aeolian islands, and Sardinia have been highlighted in several recent meetings and publications.69 The study of Mediterranean exchange patterns, especially toward the end of the Late Bronze Age, can no longer ignore this material, nor the prominence it thrusts upon the central Mediterranean. As Marsa' Matruh has brought the southern Mediterranean into the orbit of Bronze Age exchange systems, these discoveries have done the same for the west. Copper 'oxhide' ingots from Sardinia (also a fragment from Canatello, Sicily, and pieces from Lipari) indicate the same (see fig. I).

Even though Taylour's long-standing notion of Mycenaean (or Rhodian) trading

62 D. White, '1987 excavations on Bates's island, Marsa Matruh. Second preliminary report,' Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt. 26 (1989) o105-6. 63 White (supra n.45) 83-84; also Pulak (supra n.26) 36-37.

64 L. Hulin Marsa Matruh 1987JARCE 26 (1989) I24-6. 65 Knapp (supra n.6i). 66 The first report on these excavations was presented

to the Aegean Bronze Age Seminar in New York (February 1989) by Janine Bourriau of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; the manuscript has been circulated: J. Bour- riau, 'Aegean pottery from stratified contexts at Memphis, Kom Rabia.'

67 Black Lustrous juglet handle; Base-ring I body sherd - see J. Bourriau, 'Kom Rabi'a (Memphis),' Bulletin de Liaison du Groupe Internationale d'l'tude de la Ciramique tigyptienne I2 (Cairo, 1987) IO-Ii.

68White Painted styles, listed conveniently by P. Astr6m, 'The chronology of the Middle Cypriote Bronze Age,' in P. Astr6m ed., High, Middle or Low? Vol. I (SIMA-PB 56, G6teborg, 1987) 58 (57-66).

69 M.S. Balmuth ed., Studies in Sardinian Archaeology 2: Sardinia in the Mediterranean (Ann Arbor, 1986); idem ed., Studies in Sardinian Archaeology 3: Nuraghic Sardinia and the Mycenaean World (BAR International Series 387, Oxford, 1987); M. Marazzi, "Traffici 'Minoici' e 'Micenei' d'Oltre- mare: una rassegna su recenti incontri," Quaderni Urbinati di Cultura Classici 21 (1985) 107-116; idem (1983, 1988, supra n.7); M. Marazzi, S. Tusa, and L. Vagnetti eds., Traffici Micenei nel Mediterraneo: Problemi Storici e Documentazione Arch- eologica (Taranto I986); T.R. Smith, Mycenaean Trade and Interaction in the West Central Mediterranean (BAR Interna- tional Series 37I, Oxford, I987).


I124 A. BERNARD KNAPP

stations in southern Italy seems to be enjoying a revival,70 most scholars - from different viewpoints and for a variety of reasons - have exercised caution in this regard."7 Although the number of central Mediterranean sites with eastern Mediterranean material grows steadily,72 and although the tally of material seems to grow exponentially as every south Italian, Aeolian, or Sardinian excavation has begun to recognize material of Aegean or Cypriot form, fabric, or appearance,73 the lessons learnt on I4th-I3th century BC Cyprus demonstrate that there is no need to implant Mycenaean colonists at every coastal port or nuraghe which contains eastern Mediterranean material.

Since most material has been discussed in sherd-by-sherd detail in the proceedings of the Palermo congress,74 and since Vagnetti and Smith have catalogued much of the more recent Mycenaean pottery,75 the ensuing discussion seeks only to portray patterning in the data, and to highlight sites with stratified materials or those which are significant because of the quantity, date, or location of data.

The earliest (LH I-II) Mycenaean finds76 extend from the Gargano-Brindisi area of the west central Adriatic77 to Capo Piccolo in south-western Calabria,78 and from Vivara and Ischia (Phlegrean Isles) in the Bay of Naples79 to the Aeolian islands - particularly Lipari, Filicudi (Capo Graziano), and Panarea (Milazzese).80 Mycenaean pottery exists in almost every structure in the Late Bronze phases at Vivara and Lipari (Table i), and in Late Bronze Milazzese culture dwellings at Panarea.8' Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS) suggests an Aegean origin (Peloponnesos or Kythera?) for Vivara's LH I-II decorated wares.82

During the subsequent LH/LM IIIA-IIIB periods, the most striking and numerous finds come from the Gulf of Taranto region, although significant amounts of Aegean (or 'Aegean-style') material continue to turn up on the Aeolian islands and on Sicily throughout LH IIIA.83 Sardinia begins to assume some prominence during LH IIIB;84 a

70 W.D. Taylour, Mycenaean Pottery in Italy and Adjacent Areas (Cambridge 1958); K. Kilian, 'Mycenaean colonization, variety and common patterns.' Paper presented at the conference Greek Colonists and Native Populations, University of Sydney, 1986; E.B. French, 'Problems in Mycenaean contacts with the central Mediterranean,' in P.P. Betancourt ed., Temple University Aegean Symposium 9 (Philadelphia, 1984) 31-39; Smith (supra n.69) 145-161; cf. Bietti Sestieri (supra n.6); L. Vagnetti and R.E. Jones, 'Towards the identification of local Mycenaean pottery in Italy,' in E.B. French and K.A. Wardle eds., Problems in Greek Prehistory (Bristol, 1988) 347 (335-348).

71 Compare Hallager (1985, supra n.46) with Vagnetti (supra n.46).

72 From 15 sites in 1958 (Taylour, supra n.70) to 54 sites in 1982 (L. Vagnetti ed., Magna Grecia e Mondo Miceneo, Nuovi Documenti (XXII Convegno di Studi sulla Magna Grecia, Taranto, I982), to 60 sites in 1987 (Smith, supra n.69).

73 Marazzi et al. (1986, supra n.69). 74 Ibid. 75 L. Vagnetti, 'Mycenaean imports in central Italy,' in

E. Peruzzi (ed.), Mycenaeans in Early Latium (Incunabula Graeca 75, Rome, 1980) 151-166; Smith (supra n.69) 69-112; see also Harding (supra n.14) 244-255.

76 Marazzi (1988, supra n.7); cf. Harding's review of Smith (supra n.69) in PPS 54 (1988) 348.

77 Vagnetti (supra n.72) 16; Nava in Vagnetti (supra n.72) 44 pl. 3; Smith (supra n.69) 113- 116.

78 Vagnetti in E. Lattanzi, D.A. Marino, L. Vagnetti,

and R.E. Jones, 'Nota preliminare sul sito protostorico di Capo Piccolo presso Crotone,' Klearchos 113- 116 (1987) 37- 42 (25-44). 79 M. Marazzi, L. Re, and A. Lissandri, 'Importazioni egeomicenee dall'isola di Vivara (Procida),' in Marazzi et al. (supra n.69) 155-173; Marazzi (1988, supra n.7).

8o Vagnetti (supra n.72) I4; M. Cavalier and L. Vag- netti, 'Materiali Micenei vecchi e nuovi dale Acropoli di Lipari,' SMEA 25 (Incunabula Graeca 84, Rome 1984) 143-154; idem, 'Arcipelago eoliano,' in Marazzi et al. (supra n.69) I4I-1I45; French (supra n.70) 31; O.T.P.K. Dickinson, 'Early Mycenaean Greece and the Mediter- ranean,' in Marazzi et al. (supra n.69) 272 (271-276); Smith (supra n.69) 71-75; R.J.A. Wilson, 'Archaeology in Sicily 1977-1981,' Archaeological Reports 27 (1981-1982) 93-94 (84-lo5); idem, 'Archaeology in Sicily 1982-1987,' Archaeological Reports 34 (1988) 124-125 (Io5-I50).

81 Kilian (supra n.70); Smith (supra n.69) 75. 82 R.E. Jones, L. Vagnetti, and P.M. Day, 'Analysis of

Late Bronze Age Aegean-type pottery in Italy: a progress report.' Abstract of paper presented at the Sixth Interna- tional Congress of Aegean Prehistory (Athens, I987). 83 A Mycenaean alabastron and a Cypriot Base-ring II jug are now reported from a tomb near Syracuse: Wilson (1988, supra n.8o) 112.

84 Lo Schiavo et al. 1985; M.L. Ferrarese Ceruti, L. Vagnetti, and F. Lo Schiavo, 'Minoici, Micenei, e Ciprioti in Sardegna alla luce delle piii recenti scoperte,' in M.S. Balmuth ed. (1987, supra n.69) 14-21 (7-37).



TRBLE 1

AEGEAN-STYLE POTTERY IN THE CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN

Maior Sites

Period Site Amount References

LH I- LH IIIB Vivara (Phlegrean Isles) 150 + Ridgway 1982 (n.104) 66; Smith 1987 (n.69) 96-97

LH I- LH IIIANB Lipari (Aeolian Isles) "Hundreds" Smith 1987 (n.69) 96-97 LH/LM IIIA/B Scoglio del Tonno 800 + Hallager 1985 (n.46) 300; Lo Schiavo

et al. 1985, 7; Smith 1987 (n.69) 82 LH/LM IIIA/B Broglio di Trebisacce Hundreds Ridgway 1982 (n.104) 80; Peroni et

a1.1986 (n.100) 61-63 LH IIIB - LH IIIC Termitito 600 + De Siena 1986 (n.97); Ridgway 1982 (n.104) 77; Smith 1987 (n.69) 86-87 LH IIIB - LH IIIC Nuraghe Antigori "Hundreds" Ferrarese Ceruti 1986 (n.340)*;

(Sarroch, Sardinia) Lo Schiavo et al. 1985, 5, 62 'On the Nuraghe Antigori, see also M.L. Ferrarese Ceruti, "Ceramica Micenea in Sardegna (notizia preliminare)," Rivista di

Scienza Preistoriche 34(1979) 242-253; idem, "II compleso nuragico di Antigori, Sarroch (CA)," in L. Vagnetti ed., Magna Grecia e Mondo Miceneo, Nuovi Documenti (Taranto 1982) 167-176.

fragment of an ivory head with boar's tusk helmet, dated stylistically by LH IIIA types in the eastern Mediterranean, is reported by Ferrarese Ceruti et al.85 On the Italian mainland, the three most important sites are Scoglio del Tonno, Broglio di Trebisacce, and Termitito (Table i). The bulk of Aegean and Cypriot material from Sicily dates to the LH IIIA period, and falls off somewhat in LH IIIB.86

Presumed Mycenaean architectural influence at Thapsos and S. Calogeno on Sicily,87 and similarities with Mycenaean fortifications at some Tarantine Gulf sites (e.g. Scoglio del Tonno, Torre Castellucia, Porto Perone) have led to suggestions of Aegean trading ports.88 French, however, feels that such a function obtains only for the Sicilian evidence, while Bietti Sestieri believes that more formally defined politico-economic relationships existed between Mycenaean Greece and Sicily.89 In this context, it is worth noting that most I3th-I2th century BC Sicilian evidence is mortuary in nature, as opposed to the settlement evidence in contemporary south Italy.9o The merits of proposed tectonic

85 Ferrarese Ceruti et al. (supra n.84) 12-15, fig. 2.3; F. Lo Schiavo, 'Early Metallurgy in Sardinia,' in R. Maddin ed., The Beginning of the Use of Metals and Alloys (Cambridge, MA, 1988) 96-97 (92-103). 86 Lo Schiavo et al. 1985, 5, 62; V. La Rosa, 'Nuovi ritrovamenti e sopravvivenze egee nella Sicilia meridio- nale,' in Marazzi et al. (supra n.69) 79-92; Smith (supra n.69) 118-121; Wilson (I988, supra n.80) 112-113, 132; idem (1982, supra n.80) 88.

87 Wilson (1988, supra n.80) 124. 88Kilian (supra n.70); Smith (supra n.69) 131-132,

158-159; R. Leighton, 'Evidence, extent and effects of

Mycenaean contacts with southeast Sicily during the Late Bronze Age,' in C. Malone and S. Stoddart eds., Papers in Italian Archaeology 4.3 (BAR International Series 245, Oxford, 1985) 399-412 ascribes evidence from Pantalica to a 'Myceneaneanization' of southeast Sicily.

89 French (supra n.70) 3I; Bietti Sestieri (supra n.6) 41'-49. 90 G. Bergonzi, 'Southern Italy and the Aegean during the Late Bronze Age: economic strategies and specialised craft products,' in Malone and Stoddart eds. (supra n.88) 355 (355-387); Harding (supra n.14) 245-248, 257.



relationships are difficult to judge, and cannot be discussed further in this context.' Similarly, although finds of (Baltic ?) amber in Sardinia and southern Italy link this prestige product to wider interaction spheres,92 it has not been demonstrated that '. . . the amber-related Aegean contacts may have been the major stimulus to cultural developments in Italy.'93

On a more firm basis, Jones' AAS analyses combined with petrographic and mineralo- gical work (P.M. Day, L. Lazzarini, M. Mariottini) suggest that (16 of I7) 'Aegean-style' sherds from Broglio di Trebisacce were of local manufacture; AAS indicates the same for 24 'Aegean-style' sherds from Termitito.94 AAS of 12 'Aegean-style' sherds from Scoglio del Tonno was more equivocal: seven demonstrated close links with Rhodian, Peloponne- sian, or central Cretan pottery composition.95 Elsewhere, Jones' re-evaluation of an earlier study on the Scoglio del Tonno material suggested an Argolid provenance.96

Aegean and Italian prehistorians have argued for close stylistic links between Termitito wares and Pylos as well as the Cyclades,97 between Scoglio del Tonno and Rhodes98 or Crete,99 and between Broglio di Trebisacce and western Crete.loo French suggests that two Mycenaean figurines, respectively from Lipari (LH IIIAI) and Scoglio del Tonno (LH IIIA/B) indicate 'the presence of actual Mycenaeans.'o' In contrast, Bietti Sestieri distinguishes between the more intensive Mycenaean contacts of the Tyrrhenian region (including Lipari) and the more ephemeral ones (purely exchange-oriented?) of southern Italy (Apulia, Basilicata, and eastern Calabria).102 Such patterns correspond to Fisher's suggestion that different Mycenaean regions were involved with the central Mediter- ranean only through specific trading ports, e.g. at Scoglio del Tonno.'03

During LH IIIC, Aegean-style material in Sicily and the Aeolian islands falls off slightly, whilst some more recent, mostly single finds occur in central or northern Italy (some at inland sites for the first time), and significant quantities of LH IIIB2/C material turn up in Sardinia. Limited Aegean-style finds from both unprovenanced'04 and Nuragic sites105

91 Dickinson (supra n.80) 273; E.B. French, 'Mycenaean Greece and the Mediterranean world in the LHIII,' in Marazzi et al. (supra n.69) 279 (277-282); W.G. Cava- naugh and R.R. Laxton, 'Corbelled vaulting in Mycenaean tholos tombs and Sardinian nuraghi'; in Malone and Stoddart eds. (supra n.88) 413-433; idem, 'The mechanics of prehistoric corbelled vaulting,' in M.S. Balmuth ed. (supra n.69) 39-56; idem, 'An investigation into the con- struction of Sardinian nuraghi,' PBSR 55 (1987) 1-74.

92 Smith (supra n.69) 46-49. 93 A.M. Bietti Sestieri, 'The mtal industry of continen-

tal Italy, i3th to I ith century B.C., and its connections with the Aegean,' PPS 39 (i973) 4o09 (383-424); H. Hughes- Brock, 'Amber and the Mycenaeans. Journal of Baltic Studies 16 (1985) 261 (257-267).

94Jones et al. (supra n.82); similar results obtain for most of the Ioo samples from Broglio that have undergone AAS.

95 R.E. Jones, 'Chemical analysis of Aegean-type Late Bronze Age pottery found in Italy,' in Marazzi et al. (supra n.69) 207-208 (205-214); Vagnetti and Jones (supra n.70o).

96 A.M. de Angelis, E. Mariani, G. Peco, C. Storti, and F. Biancofore, 'Osservazioni technologiche su campioni de ceramica Micenea: contributo all conoscenze dell'in- dustria vascolare Micenea,' Rivista Antropologica 47 (1960) 17-58; R.E. Jones, Greek and Cypriot Pottery: A Review of

Scientific Studies (British School at Athens, Fitch Labora- tory, Occasional Paper I, Athens) 513-514.

97 A. de Siena, 'Termitito,' in M. Marazzi, S. Tusa, and L. Vagnetti eds., Traffici Micenei nel Mediterraneo (Taranto 1986) 41-54; French (supra n.70o) 3I; idem; 'The Mycenaean spectrum' in Malone and Stoddart eds. (supra n.88) 297 (295-303). 98 Ibid; Kilian (supra n.70).

99 Hallager (1985, supra n.46) 297-300; but cf. Vagnetti (supra n.46) 30-31.

00oo Vagnetti (supra n.46); R. Peroni, F. Trucco, and L. Vagnetti, 'Broglio de Trebisacce (CS),' in Marazzi et al. (supra n.69) 61-64 (55-70).

o101 French (supra n.70) 32. 102 Bietti Sestieri (supra n.6) 33-49- 0lo3 E.A. Fisher, 'The trade patterns of the Mycenaeans

in southern Italy'. AJA 89 (1985) 330; idem, A Comparison of Mycenaean Pottery in Apulia with Mycenaean Pottery in Western Greece (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Uni- versity of Minnesota, Minneapolis, I987).

104 Nuoro in Sassari - D. Ridgway, 'Archaeology in South Italy, 1977-1981,' Archaeological Reports 27 (1981- 1982) 82-83 (63-83); Orosei Vagnetti (supra n.72) I86-1I87, pl. 69; Barumini, Tharros, and Mara - Lo Schiavo (supra n.5) 238, 239 fig. 16.6.

0lo5 Vagnetti (supra n.72) 177-179, pls. 64.10-I2, 66.



have appeared in Sardinia, but by far the most impressive evidence comes from the Nuraghe Antigori (Sarroch) (see Table I).106

Analysis of the two Nuraghe Antigori 'Base-ring' sherds (base and handle) by AAS could not associate them definitively with either local or Cypriot manufacture.'07 Although cluster analysis of sample composition (three logarithmically-transformed trace elements) allocated the base sherd to a 'Peloponnese' cluster,'08 this may do nothing more than highlight certain problems with cluster analysis.

Whereas French questioned the source allocations of much of this central Mediter- ranean LH IIIB/C material, Jones argued from geochemical analyses that 13 'Mycenaean' sherds from Orosei, 2 from Domu s'Orku, and 17 from Nuraghe Antigori show striking compositional similarities to Peloponnesian wares.1'09 Aegean-style (i.e. locally- manufactured) sherds formed a distinct group within the Nuraghe Antigori (n=3o) and Domu s'Orku (n= I) material.11"0 Amongst the total of 80 sherd samples from Sardinia that underwent AAS, 33 are regarded as Peloponnesian imports, nine as Cretan imports, and one - from a large storage pithos (also examined petrographically) - as a Cypriot import."'

The final factor in the equation, the 'Italian' or central Mediterranean material in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean, is even less straightforward. French has argued that the two wares involved (it is somewhat misleading to consider them together) are of Italian origin or inspiration.112 Whilst the Handmade Burnished Ware ('Barbarian Ware')"3 first appears in the Aegean and Cyprus during LH IIIB2/LC IIC,114 the wheelmade 'Grey Minyan' Ware ('Anatolian Grey Polished') dates to both earlier and later eras.115 Although Hallager believes the wheelmade variety is simply the successor to the handmade,"6 Vagnetti argues that the two must be kept separate, and that the wheelmade variety may in fact have derived from the Aegean."7

Jones employed AAS and Optical Emission Spectroscopy (OES) on 19 samples of 'Barbarian Ware,' and found significant variations in material from seven different locations (Crete, Cyprus, Greece)."'18 Whereas only seven Cretan examples from Khania

106 Others in Smith (supra n.69) 123. 1o07 Lo Schiavo et al. 1985, 5, 62; Jones and Day (supra

n.49) 259. '0sJones and Day (supra n.49) 268, Table 14.2. 1'09 French (supra n.97) 297-298; idem (supra n.70) 32;

Jones (supra n.96) 208-209; Jones and Day (supra n.49) 267-268; Vagnetti and Jones (supra n.7o) 345-346.

"oJones and Day (supra n.49) 267-268. "' Jones and Day (supra n.49) 260-262. "2 French (supra n.70o) 32. "3 J. Rutter, 'Ceramic evidence for northern intruders

in southern Greece at the beginning of the Late Helladic IIIC period,' AJA 79 (I975) 17-32; H.W. Catling and E.A. Catling, "'Barbarian' pottery from the Mycenaean settlement at the Menelaion, Sparta,' BSA 76 (198I) 71- 82; A. Bankoff and F.A. Winter, 'Northern intruders in LHIIIC Greece: a view from the north'. Journal of Indo- European Studies 12 (1984) I-30.

114 Harding (supra n.I4) 216-220; French (supra n.97) 298; V. Karageorghis, "Barbarian' ware in Cyprus,' in V. Karageorghis ed., Acts of the International Archaeological Sym- posium: Cyprus between the Orient and Occident (Nicosia 1986) 252 (246-264); K. Kilian, 'Mycenaeans up to date: trends

and changes in recent research,' in French and Wardle (supra n.T7) 124-133, figs. 5-8 (115-1I52); for a possible earlier appearance at Kommos, see J.W. Shaw, 'Exca- vations at Kommos (Crete) during I982-1983,' Hesperia 53 (1984) 278, pl. 58 (251-287).

115" P. Dikaios, Enkomi. Excavations 1948-1958 (Mainz-am- Rhein, i969-71) 917, pls. 234.4, 298.10 [Pyla Verghi]; V. Karageorghis and M. Demas, Pyla-Kokkinokremos: A Late z3th Century B.C. Fortified Settlement in Cyprus (Nicosia 1984) 50, pls. 19.133, 36.133 [Pyla Kokkinokremos]; Vagnetti (supra n.46) 32-33; T. Dothan, 'The arrival of the Sea Peoples: cultural diversity in early Iron Age Canaan,' in S. Gitin and W.G. Dever eds., Recent Excavations in Israel: Studies in Iron Age Archaeology (Annual of American Schools of Ori- ental Research 49, Winona Lake, IN) 2 (1-22) [Tel Miqne, Israel].

"116 Hallager (supra n.46) 303. 117 Vagnetti (supra n.46) 32; see also C. Belardelli, 'La

ceramica grigia,' in R. Peroni ed., Nuove Richerche sulla Protostoria della Sibaritide (Rome) 13-I35 (124-156); Bergonzi (supra n.90) 361-363; varied opinions on this ware are expressed in Karageorghis (supra n.Ir 4) 254-258.

"l Appendix to Karageorghis (supra n.I I4) 259-264.



conformed 'satisfactorily' to local Khaniote Red ware, Jones concluded that 'Barbarian Ware' 'was probably made in the locality of its findspots.'119

Vagnetti argues that too little is known of both wares to be talking of major Italian imports into LM Crete, as the interpretation of the evidence from LM IIIC Khania or LM IIIA2-IIIB Kommos might suggest (Peter Day's petrographic studies may help to resolve the issue with regard to Kommos). Vagnetti prefers to see the bulk of LM III imports into Italy or Sardinia confined to LM IIIA-B, which accords well with her thesis that '... the main initiative of trade with the central Mediterranean must be sought in the framework of the Mycenaean civilisation and that the regional participation to this trade (Crete, Rhodes) increases with the enlargement of the Mycenaean presence in the Aegean.'120 Nonetheless Hallager's suggested link between Aegean pottery trade with the West and metals' acquisition during LM/LH IIIB/C is equally compelling,121 especially in light of metallurgical considerations (discussed below).

However much weight is allowed for links between Cypriot (or Aegean) and Sardinian metalwork,122 and however the profusion of copper oxhide ingots in Sardinia and their existence in Sicily and Lipari are interpreted, the unambiguous presence of Aegean-style and Cypriot pottery outlines a very tentative and still-changing distribution trend:123 greater quantities of material occur earlier in southern Italy and Sicily, whilst later material occurs in more limited amounts in Sardinia and south Italy, often in single sherds in central or northern Italy.

Although the nature and full impact of eastern connections remain problematic, Whitehouse's argument that fortifications, economic specialization, and interregional trade may all be responses to the trigger of Mycenaean trade cannot be sustained.124 The nature of contact clearly differed in mainland south Italy and the Sicily/Tyrrhenian region: Bietti Sestieri suggests - plausibly - that long-term exchange systems were local processes, unrelated to localized political or ecological events in the Aegean;'25 Bergonzi opts for a freelance trade model to explain the assymetrical nature of Aegeo-Italian relations;126 Harding views east Mediterranean material in Sicily as evidence for prestige-goods acquisition by local elites, but that in southern Italy, the Aeolian islands, and perhaps even Sardinia as evidence for a more utilitarian, down-the-line exchange system, linked to local trade networks;127 if wheelmade 'Aegean-style' wares found in peninsular Italy represent an introduced technology, the presence of Aegean craftspeople must also be considered.128 Until it is possible to evaluate the degree of specialization in these coastal centres with respect to the overall settlement hierarchy, or to determine whether more than one segment of society was involved in trade with the east,129 the quantity and complexity of the data make any unilineal trade::urbanism correspondence overly simplistic.

"9 Ibid., 261. 120 Vagnetti (supra n.46) 33. 121 Hallager (supra n.46) 304. '22 A. Harding, 'Mycenaean Greece and Europe: the

evidence of bronze tools and implements,' PPS 4! (i975) 183-202; cf. Lo Schiavo et al. 1985, 9-62; Vagnetti (supra n.75) I64.

'123 Vagnetti (supra n.72); Chapman (supra n.2); Hard- ing (supra n.I4); Bietti Sestieri (supra n.6).

124 Whitehouse (supra n.19). '125 Bietti Sestieri (supra n.6); cf. Harding (supra n.I4)

283- '126 Bergonzi (supra n.9o) 359-361, 368. 127 Harding (supra n.14) 282-285. 128Jones et al. (supra n.82). '129 Chapman (supra n.2) 122-123; Harding (supra n.14)

257-258.



METALS PRODUCTION AND EXCHANGE

The differential preservation of metal goods (on land or in the sea), and the intentional deposition of certain categories of material (prestige items, or utilitarian 'hoards') are also limiting factors in our broader understanding of prehistoric exchange. The archaeological record, in other words, seldom reveals the totality of material that circulated within a particular regional or interregional exchange system. In the attempt to retrieve more information from what is preserved in the archaeological record, metallurgical studies have assumed much prominence in the past decade. Results of recent metallurgical and statistical analyses that shed additional light on politico-economic developments in the Late Bronze Age Mediterranean are therefore summarized next.

Metallurgical Analyses: New Data

Because Lead Isotope Analysis (LIA) has assumed a major role in discussions of the Mediterranean Bronze Age trade in copper, it is important to emphasize the potential as well as the limitations of this method:

To establish the boundaries of the field of isotopic composition characteristic of a given ore deposit, about 50 ore samples should ideally be measured. Then the most powerful aspect of the lead isotope method is that it can say with loo per cent certainty that a metal artifact plotting outside this field cannot have been made of metal from this ore deposit (emphasis added).130

If the lead isotope composition of an artifact results in an isotopic composition which falls within the isotopic field of a particular copper-ore deposit, the copper of the artifact is consistent with having come from that ore deposit.131

In this highly complex, hard-science approach to metal ores and artifacts, it must be emphasized that currently it is only possible to define the provenance of metal negatively, i.e. to state that a specific ore, slag, ingot or artifact cannot have come from a specific source.132 Whereas the Oxford team (N.H. Gale, Z.A. Stos-Gale) is interested primarily in provenance, other teams (Penn-Harvard; Heidelberg-Mainz) deal more explicitly with metallurgical factors and statistical analyses that affect any attempt to determine provenance.'33 Increasingly various geochemical analyses (NAA, AAS, and PIXE) have been included in archaeometallurgical research efforts in order to determine trace element composition; multivariate statistical methods are employed on the resultant data sets in order to establish (or discriminate amongst) groups of material that share common elemental patterns.

130 Stos-Gale and Gale (supra n.57) 57. '131 N.H. Gale and Z.A. Stos-Gale, 'Oxhide copper

ingots in Crete and Cyprus and the Bronze Age metals trade,' BSA 81 (1986) 81-ioo.

'32 R. Maddin, 'Technical studies - early use of metals,' in E.V. Sayre, P. Vandiver, J. Druzik, & C. Stevenson eds., Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology (Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings 123 (Pittsburgh, 1988) I80 (171-181); F. Begemann, S. Schmitt-Strecker, and E. Pernicka, 'Isotopic composition of lead in early metal artefacts: results, possibilities and limitations,' in A.

Hauptmann, E. Pernicka and G.A. Wagner eds., Old World Archaeometallurgy (Der Anschnitt 7, Bochum, I989) 275-276 (269-278).

'133 E.g. Muhly et al. (supra n.I6); E. Pernicka, 'Prove- nance determination of metal artifacts: methodological considerations,' Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Bi4 (1986) 24-29; idem, 'Erzlagerstitten in der Agais und ihre Ausbeutung im Altertum: geochemische Untersuchungen zur Herkunftsbestimmung archfiologi- scher Metallobjekte,' JRGZM 23 (1989) (34 607-714); Begemann et al. (supra n.132).



The combined effort of archaeologists and archaeological scientists has already produced important results for understanding the Mediterranean Bronze Age trade in metals. To establish acceptable criteria on metals' provenance, it is necessary to assess the results of LIA and of various trace element analyses within a multivariate statistical atmosphere.134 One co-operative venture along these lines is underway with material from Sardinia,'35 another with Bronze Age Aegean material in its wider Mediterranean context. 136

Based on LIA of Cypriot copper ores (from the Troodos mountains and the Troulli outlier) and LIA/NAA of seven copper oxhide ingot fragments from Mathiati (n=4) and Skouriotissa (n=3), the Oxford team feels confident that they have isolated a general Cypriot 'field' of lead isotopic composition.'37 LIA and NAA also revealed that copper- based alloy artifacts from Pyla Kokkinokremos (n=2), Kalavasos Ayios Dhimitrios (n=7), and Hala Sultan Tekke Vyzakia (n=I) were similar in elemental composition to the Cypriot oxhide ingots (NAA), and were consistent with the Cypriot 'field' as delimited by LIA.'38 Whereas the ingots and bronze artifacts found on Cyprus were produced from diverse copper ore sources, they are quite similar in the trace elements arsenic and antimony, and especially in gold and silver. Because concentrations of gold and silver in oxhide ingots and copper-alloy artifacts from Ayios Dhimitrios and Hala Sultan Tekke cluster together closely,'"39 they may provide a complementary, trace-element identifier of Cypriot copper.

Of 38 (Middle and Late Minoan) bronze objects analysed, only three were consistent with the Cypriot 'field';140 another three were observed to plot closely to a single Sardinian ore sample,141 but only one (a double-axe) has proved to be consistent with copper ores from Funtana Raminosa in Sardinia.142 In other recent studies, LIA has demonstrated that a number of ingots or artifacts are consistent with the Cypriot 'field' (Table 2).

In a series of papers, the Oxford team has established the isotopic 'field' of the Laurion (Attica) copper ore deposit, and argued for the widespread use of Laurion copper in the Aegean, particularly in Minoan artifacts.143 In another recent study, they have attempted to establish a Cretan 'field', based on analysis of copper ores from eight sources (only two of which have tangible copper deposits).144" The Cretan ores plotted in close proximity to, and partly overlapped the Cypriot 'field', a complication that represents one of the most serious problems with LIA, but one which may yet be resolved by the combined use of elemental and isotopic data, and the use of multivariate statistical techniques.145

134For earlier work along similar lines, see R.F. Tylecote, H.A. Ghasnavi, and P.J. Boydell, 'Partitioning of trace elements between ores, fluxes, slags and metals during the smelting of copper'. J]AS 4 (1977) 305-333.

'35 F. Lo Schiavo, R. Maddin, J.D. Muhly, and T. Stech, 'Preliminary research on ancient metallurgy in Sardinia: 1984,' AJA 89 (1985) 316-318.

136 A.B. Knapp and J.F. Cherry, 'The British Academy Group Research Project: an aspect of science and archaeology in Great Britain,' Bulletin of the Society for Archaeological Sciences 13 (1990) 3-5.

'37 Z.A. Stos-Gale, N.H. Gale, and U. Zwicker, 'The copper trade in the south-east Mediterranean region. Preliminary scientific evidence,' RDAC (1986) I26-1I29 (122-144); Gale and Stos-Gale (supra n.131) 92-93; idem (supra n.I4) 140.

"8 Ibid. 139-140.

'139 Ibid., 140, fig. 7.7. 140 Stos-Gale et al. (supra n.1I37) I29-130, I34. 141 N.H. Gale and Z.A. Stos-Gale, 'Bronze and copper

sources in the Mediterranean: a new approach,' Science 216 (1982) 13, fig. I (11-19).

142 N.H. Gale and Z.A. Stos-Gale, 'Recent evidence for a possible Bronze Age metal trade between Sardinia and the Aegean,' in E.B. French & K.A. Wardle eds., Problems in Greek Prehistory (Bristol 1988) 351, fig. 2 (349-384).

143 N.H. Gale and Z.A. Stos-Gale, 'Lead isotope analysis and Alashiya: 3,' RDAC (1985) 83-99; idem (supra n.1i42); Stos-Gale et al. (supra n.1I37); Stos-Gale and Gale (supra n.36).

144 Gale and Stos-Gale (supra n.I3I) 96-97. 145 Gale and Stos-Gale (supra n.I4) 138; M. Pollard,

'Data analysis,' in R.E. Jones (supra n.96) 58-74 (56-83); Knapp and Cherry (supra n.136).


MEDITERRANEAN INTER-ISLAND RELATIONS IN THE LATE BRONZE AGE I3'

TABLE 2

INGOTS AND ARTIFACTS CONSISTENT WITH THE 'CYPRIOT FIELD' (as defined by Lead Isotope Analysis)*

Period Site Ingots References

ProBA Mathiati (Cyprus) 4 ingot fragments Gale & Stos-Gale 1986 (n.131) ProBA Skouriotissa(Cyprus) 3 ingot fragments Gale & Stos-Gale 1986 (n.131) LM IA Ayia Irini (Kea) 2 ingot fragments Stos-Gale 1988 (n.158) 282 Fig.13; Gale

1989 (n.166) 265, Table 29.7 LH IIIB - LH IIIC Mycenae 12 ingot fragments Demakopolou et al. 1987 (n.167); Gale & Stos-Gale 1989 (n.178) 254 and Plate

LXV; Gale 1989 (n.166) 265, Table 29.7 LH III Tiryns 1 slab ingot Gale 1989 (n.166) 255-256, Fig.29.16 LH IIIC Emporio (Chios) 1 ingot fragment Gale & Stos-Gale 1986 (n.131) 82;

Stos-Gale & Gale 1985 (n.57) 158 LB II Ras ibn Hani (Syria) 2 copper droplets Gale 1989 (n.166) 265, Table 29.7

(ingot mould)

Artifacts

PreBA II Kalopsidha (Cyprus) 3 bronze artifacts Gale & Stos-Gale 1985 (n.181) 56-58, Table 3

ProBA Maroni, Kouklia 2 bronze artifacts Gale & Stos-Gale 1985 (n.181) 56-58, (Cyprus) Table 3

ProBA II Enkomi (Cyprus) 4 bronze artifact Gale & Stos-Gale 1985 (n.181) 56-58, Table 3; Gale 1989 (n.166) 265, Table 29.7

LCyc IA Akrotiri (Thera) 3 bronze artifacts Gale & Stos-Gale 1985 (n.181) 56-58; LM II Knossos (Crete) 3 bronze artifacts Gale and Stos-Gale 1985 (n.181) 58;

Stos-Gale, Gale, & Zwicker 1986 (n.137) 134

LM lilA Kokla (Karpathos) 2 bronze artifacts Stos-Gale 1988 (n.158) 276, 282 Fig.14 Late Bronze Ugarit (Syria) 2 bronze artifacts Stos-Gale and Gale 1985 (n.57) 158 LH III Mycenae (Poros) 1 bronze artifact Gale 1989 (n.166) 265, Table 29.7; Gale

& Stos-Gale 1989 (n.178) Plate LXV LH III Perati 3 bronze artifacts Gale 1989 (n.166) 265, Table 29.7 LH III Menidi 1 bronze artifact Gale 1989 (n.166) 265, Table 29.7

* The figures in this table reflect the current (November 1989) state of relevant publishedmaterial.



TIBLE 3

INGOTS AND ARTIFACTS CONSISTENT WITH THE 'LAURION FIELD' (as defined by Lead Isotope Analysis)*

Period Site Material References

MM I - LM IB Ayia Irini (Kea) 4 pieces copper slag Stos-Gale 1988 (n.158) 276, 282 Fig.13 LCyc IA Akrotiri (Thera) 3 bronze artifacts Gale & Stos-Galel985 (n.181) 58 LCyc IA/B Ayia Irini (Kea) 3 (tin-) bronze (?) Stos-Gale 1988 (n.158) 276, 282 Fig.13

artifacts

(LM I - LM III Crete 11 bronze artifacts Gale & Stos-Gale 1985 (n.181) 58)a LM I Nerou Kourou (Crete) 4 bronze artifacts Gale 1989 (n.166) 265, Table 29.7 LM II Knossos (Crete) 15 bronze artifacts Stos-Gale, Gale & Zwicker 1986 (n.137) 134;

Gale 1989 (n.166) 265, Table 29.7 LM III Ayia Irini (Kea) 1 copper piece Stos-Gale 1988 (n.158) 276, 282 Fig.13 LM IIIA Kokla (Karpathos) 3 bronze artifacts Stos-Gale 1988 (n.158) 276, 282 Fig.14 LM IllA2/B West Crete 19 bronze artifacts Stos-Gale, Gale & Zwicker 1986 (n.137) 134;

Gale 1989 (n.166) 265, Table 29.7 LH IIIB/C Mycenae (varia) 20 bronze artifacts Gale 1989 (n.166) 265, Table 29.7; Gale &

Stos-Gale 1989 (n.178) Plate LXV LH III B (?) Menidi 3 bronze artifacts Gale 1989 (n.166) 265, Table 29.7 LH IIIC Perati 1 bronze artifact Gale 1989 (n.166) 265, Table 29.7 LH III Tiryns 1 bronze artifact Gale 1989 (n.166) 265, Table 29.7

* The figures in this table reflect the current (November 1989) state of relevant published material. a Some of these artifacts may be included amongst the site-specific artifacts listed below.

Amongst recent material analysed, those that fall within the Laurion 'field' are given in Table 3.

With regard to metallurgical activity in Bronze Age Sardinia, the contention that tin was in use in (if not native to) Sardinia during the Late Bronze Age146 may suggest local production of bronze, but says nothing about the provenance of the tin147 or copper used.

146 R.F. Tylecote, 'Early tin ingots from western Europe and the Mediterranean,' in A.D. Franklin, J.S. Olin, and T.A. Wertime eds., The Search for Ancient Tin (Washington, DC, 1978) 49-52; J. Riederer, 'Metallanalysen sardischer Bronzen,' in J. Thimme ed., Kunst Sardiniens (Karlsruhe) i56-i60; R.F. Tylecote, M.S. Balmuth, and R. Massoli- Novelli, 'Copper and bronze metallurgy in Sardinia,' Journal of the Historical Metallurgy Society 17 (I983) 63-78; F.

Lo Schiavo, T. Stech, R. Maddin, and J.D. Muhly, 'Nuragic metallurgy in Sardinia; second preliminary report,' in M.S. Balmuth ed. (I987, supra n.69) I79-187; Gale and Stos-Gale (supra n.142) 382-384; Lo Schiavo (supra n.85) 98.

'47J.D. Muhly, 'Sources of tin and the beginnings of bronze metallurgy,' AJA 89 (1985) 286 (275-29I).


MEDITERRANEAN INTER-ISLAND RELATIONS IN THE LATE BRONZE AGE I33

Although one multidisciplinary team has attempted to track down reported tin deposits, and to determine the reputed existence of cassiterite, they maintained a healthy scepticism about the feasibility of Bronze Age exploitation of tin on Sardinia.148

In an earlier study that laid the groundwork for establishment of a Sardinian lead isotope 'field', the Oxford team conducted preliminary LIA on Sardinian bronze artifacts, and suggested that the relatively high lead contents of these objects:

are in fact quite consistent with accidental derivation from copper ores containing some lead. It is well known that the copper ores in Sardinia are associated with lead ores; the Bronze Age miners and metallurgists may not always have been able readily to separate them effectively.149

More recently, LIA of eight lead objects (from the Nuraghi Antigori and Albucciu) and of 52 Sardinian lead ore deposits indicates that thirteen orebodies, all in the SW Iglesiente/ Sulcis district, could have been the source of (i.e. are consistent with) lead used in the nuragic objects.'50 Analysis of ten bronze objects from the Santa Maria in Paulis hoard'51 (from Ittiri near Sassari in northern Sardinia) reveals a composition similar to that for the eight nuragic lead objects, but consistent with only two of the ore sources included in the analytical program at Oxford: Sa Duchessa and Acquaresi.'52 Twelve oxhide ingot samples included in these analyses reveal a completely different isotopic composition.

Whereas previous analytical work on oxhide ingots or fragments found in Sardinia was inconclusive with respect to provenance,'153 more recent studies on Sardinian ores, lead and bronze objects, and oxhide or bun ingots found in Sardinia have advanced considerably the understanding of the island's metallurgy within its Mediterranean context.154 As the Oxford team rightly cautions, however, the lack of a chronological framework hinders fuller interpretation of these important new data and analyses.55

Working with a database of seventy Sardinian ore deposits, and more than eighty copper oxhide ingots or fragments, LIA of twenty-two ingots/fragments from fourteen findspots suggests that all were produced from a single ore deposit. Furthermore, the analyses indicate that none of these ingots or fragments is similar in lead isotope composition to any of the Sardinian lead or bronze objects, or to the few Cretaceous, Sardinian orebodies thus far analysed.'"56 Of more than passing interest is the discovery that these twenty-two ingot samples plot in the 'field' defined for Cypriot copper ore

148 Lo Schiavo et al. (supra n.I35) 138; Gale and Stos- Gale (supra n.142) 382; idem (supra n.14) I62.

149 Gale and Stos-Gale 1985, (supra n.143) 97, n.4. 150o Gale and Stos-Gale (supra n.14) 150-152; idem (supra

n.142) 353. '51 E. MacNamara, D. Ridgway and F.R. Ridgway, The

Bronze Hoard from S.Maria in Paulis Sardinia (British Museum Occasional Paper 45, London).

152 Gale and Stos-Gale (supra n.14) 154-155, fig. 7.'5; idem (supra n.142) 363.

'53 M.S. Balmuth and R.F. Tylecote, 'Ancient copper and bronze in Sardinia: excavations and analysis'. JFA 3 (1976) I95-201; U. Zwicker, P. Virdis, and M.L. Ceruti, 'Investigations on Copper Ore, Prehistoric Copper Slag and Copper Ingots from Sardinia,' in P.T. Craddock ed., Scientific Studies in Early Mining and Extractive Metallurgy (British Museum Occasional Paper 2o, London, 1980)

135-153. 154 Gale and Stos-Gale (supra n.14); idem (supra n.I42);

Lo Schiavo et al. (supra n.146); T. Stech, 'Nuragic metallurgy in Sardinia: third preliminary report,' in A. Haupt- mann, E. Pernicka, and G.A. Wagner eds., Old World Archaeometallurgy (Der Anschnitt 7, Bochum, 1989) 39-43; P. Virdis, U. Zwicker, F. Begemann, and W. Todt, 'Beitrag zur bronzezeitlichen Kupferverhiittung in Sardinien,' Metall 11 (1983) 1114-1 I18; P. Virdis, U. Sanna, L. Mas- sida, and C. Atzeni, 'Archeometallurgia nuragica nel territoria de Villanovaforru: a) ireperti da Baccu Simeone; b) i reperti da Genna Maria. La Sardegna tra il Secondo ed il Primo Millennio a.C. (Selargius, 27-30 Nov. 1986).

155 Gale and Stos-Gale (supra n.14) 146; idem (supra n.142) 373; Stech (supra n.154) 39.

'156 Gale and Stos-Gale (supra n.I4) i56-I6I, especially Fig. 7.18; idem (supra n.142) 375.



deposits, albeit toward its edge.'"'57 Instrumental NAA of fourteen trace elements for seventeen oxhide ingots found on Sardinia not only demonstrates that all but one was more than 99.3% pure copper, it also reveals that their gold and silver contents plot with those of eleven LC II bronze objects and seven Cypriot copper oxhide ingots.'58

Reporting on analytical results (OES) of 14 - out of IoI total - samples taken from copper oxhide ingots found on Sardinia (only one from a Nuragic site with archaeological context), Maddin found correspondent microstructures, and 'consistent' quantities of arsenic. Based on equivalent analyses carried out on copper oxhide ingots from the Ulu Burun wreck deposit, the relatively higher percentages of arsenic and absence of iron in the central Mediterranean ingots contrast with lower arsenic and higher iron percentages of iron in the eastern Mediterranean (Ulu Burun) ingots.159 Muhly recently reported that elemental analyses (AAS) of the Sardinian ingots separate them into three distinct groups, none closely related to any other ingots the Penn-Harvard team has studied, save an 'intriguing similarity' with oxhide ingots from Ayia Triadha (Crete).160 Whereas the Oxford team notes a similarity in lead isotope composition between the Ayia Triadha ingots and some Sardinian bronze objects, the latter are not similar to the Sardinian oxhide ingots they analysed.'6

Perhaps the most interesting, and at this stage the most definitive information comes from the negative evidence of LIA. Nine (out of 19 total) copper oxhide ingots from Ayia Triadha have now been analysed:162 eight derive from one source, one from a separate source, and none is consistent with known Laurion, Cypriot, Cretan, or Anatolian (Ergani Maden) 'fields'. Although the Ayia Triadha ingots, on the one hand, plot with some Early Bronze artifacts from the Troad and from Syros in the Cyclades,163 and on the other are 'superficially similar' (in lead isotope and trace element composition) to some bronze artifacts in the Sardinian Santa Maria in Paulis hoard,164 it must be remembered that this does not establish provenance. It shows only that the Ayia Triadha ingots are not inconsistent with the isotopic composition of objects of west Anatolian, Cycladic, or Sardinian archaeological provenance. More noteworthy, when taken together with indi- cations that certain Late Minoan objects were made from copper consistent with either a Cypriot or Laurion source,'65 this negative information indicates that copper from at least four different (two unknown) sources was in use on Late Minoan Crete.

The 'positive' evidence, it will be recalled, is that all copper oxhide ingots from Cyprus thus far analysed, ingot fragments from Kea and Chios and thirteen fragments from Mycenae, and a variety of bronze artifacts from Cyprus, Ugarit, Crete, Thera, and Karpathos are consistent with the Cypriot 'field'.166 No ingots, but some Late Minoan or

57 Gale and Stos-Gale (supra n.1I4) I58, fig. 7.19. 158 Z.A. Stos-Gale, 'Lead isotope evidence for trade in

copper from Cyprus during the Late Bronze Age,' in E.B. French and K.A. Wardle eds., Problems in Greek Prehistory (Bristol) 268 and fig. 6 (265-282); Gale and Stos-Gale (supra n.142) 375, fig. 18.

'59 Lo Schiavo et al. (supra n.I46) 182-184; R. Maddin, 'The copper and tin ingots from the Kag shipwreck,' in A. Hauptmann, E. Pernicka, and G.A. Wagner eds., Old World Archaeometallurgy (Der Anschnitt 7, Bochum, I989) 99-05; a more complex picture of the arsenic/iron elemental distribution is presented in Stech (supra n.I54) 39-40.

160 Muhly et al. (supra n.i6) 289-290.

161"' Gale and Stos-Gale (supra n.142) 363-366. '62 Gale and Stos-Gale (supra n.131) 92-99; idem (supra

n.14) 140-143; Stos-Gale et al. (supra n.137) 134. 163 Gale and Stos-Gale (supra n. I31) 99, fig. 9. 16'4 Gale and Stos-Gale (supra n.142) 163-166; idem

(supra n.1I4) I56. 165 Stos-Gale and Gale (supra n.36). 166 Stos-Gale and Gale (supra n.36) fig. Io; N.H. Gale,

'Archaeometallurgical studies of Late Bronze Age ox-hide copper ingots from the Mediterranean region,' in A. Hauptmann, E. Pernicka, and G.A. Wagner eds., Old World Archaeometallurgy (Der Anschnitt 7, Bochum, 1989) 247-268.



Cycladic metal objects, slag, and scrap are consistent with a Laurion 'field'. The results of LIA and elemental analysis conducted since 1986 have refined this picture further.'67 Because many of these data are still in the course of publication, the remainder of this discussion attempts only to summarize recent information presented at 1987 conferences (Athens and Heidelberg).

In Athens, both the Oxford and Penn-Harvard teams reached consensus on what might be called the 'fingerprint' of Cypriot copper; at least as important was the isolation of two other fingerprints (source disputed, perhaps 'Cretan' and 'Anatolian'). Analytical work conducted on copper oxhide ingots from Cyprus, Crete, and the wreck deposits from the southern Anatolian coast, together with elemental analysis of some Sardinian ingots, seem to indicate four broad, spatio-temporal groupings"68 I) 'Cretan' - the earliest group, consisting of ingots from three LM IB sites (Ayia Triadha, Gournia, Tylissos), and evidently from three different sources; 2) 'Anatolian' - a I4th-I3th century BC group, consisting of ingots from the Ulu Burun shipwreck and a single ingot said to come from nearby Antalya; 3) 'Cypriot' - a I3th-I2th century BC group consisting of ingots from Enkomi, Mathiati, and Skouriotissa on Cyprus; from the Cape Gelidonya shipwreck; from Kommos on Crete; and from Ras Ibn Hani (spillage from oxhide ingot mould);169 4) 'Sardinian' - presumably the latest group.

Whereas AAS and Principal Components Analysis (PCA) on 27 copper oxhide ingots and ten piano-convex ('bun') ingots from Ittirreddu (Nuraghe Funtana) indicated no significant differences in elemental composition between the two types,'70 work by the Oxford team and from the Mainz laboratory reveals that the oxhide ingots from Sardinia are consistent with the Cypriot 'field', and that they differ considerably in their lead isotope composition from bun ingots found on Sardinia.'7'

Muhly thus argued that, whereas prior to 13oo BC most Cypriot copper was traded to the Levant or Egypt, after 13oo BC the Aegean and the West became an increasingly important market for Cypriot copper.172 Collaborative work presented by the Oxford team tends to support such a conclusion.'"73 Just how far west Cypriot copper travelled in the I3th-12th centuries BC is one of the major unanswered questions. If it travelled as far as Sicily, Lipari, or Sardinia, the more important question is why? Before offering a tentative answer, the evidence for copper production on Cyprus and Sardinia must be considered.

'67 K. Demakopoulou, E. Mangou, Z.A. Stos-Gale, & N. Gale, 'Sumbole sten dreuna tes metallourgias kai proil- euses tou chalkoui kata te Mukenaike Epoke. Paper presented at the 6th International Colloquium on Aegean Prehistory (Athens, I987).

'168Muhly et al. (supra n.I6) 289-291; Gale (supra n.166).

'69Gale (supra n.i66) 250-256; Stos-Gale and Gale (supra n.36) fig. Io; J.D. Muhly, 'The wider world of lead ingots' RDAC (1988) 263 and n.i4 (263-266).

170 Maddin (supra n.132) I77; Lo Schiavo et al. (supra n.146); elemental analysis indicates a slightly different, more diverse situation with respect to the oxhide and bun ingots from Baccu Simeone - see Stech (supra n.1I54) 40-41.

1'71 Gale (supra n.I66) 256-262; Gale and Stos-Gale (supra n.14) 161-163.

172 Muhly et al. (sup

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