Copper slag from one of many metropolis’s workshops. Credit score: T. Bürge
Researchers from the College of Gothenburg have uncovered proof that highlights the importance of the Cypriot village of Hala Sultan Tekke through the Late Bronze Age. By means of excavations, the workforce has established that the village’s strategic location and its ample reserves of the coveted metallic copper performed an important function in making it one of the vital vital commerce hubs through the early phases of worldwide commerce within the Mediterranean. The findings have been printed within the Journal of Archaeological Science.
“We've got discovered large portions of imported pottery in Hala Sultan Tekke, but additionally luxurious items fabricated from gold, silver, ivory, and semi-precious gems which present that the town’s manufacturing of copper was a buying and selling commodity in excessive demand,” says Peter Fischer, emeritus professor on the Division of Historic Research on the College of Gothenburg and the chief of the excavations.
The Swedish Cyprus Expedition is a analysis undertaking that started in 1927 to map the island’s archaeological historical past. The latest expedition led by Peter Fischer at Hala Sultan Tekke, close to the modern-day metropolis of Larnaca on the south coast of Cyprus, began in 2010 and has continued for 13 seasons. The excavations have proven that the town coated a minimum of 25 hectares, 14 of which comprised its heart, surrounded by a metropolis wall. The Expedition has additionally discovered objects from this era scattered over a fair bigger space.
“Our investigations and excavations present that Hala Sultan Tekke was bigger than was beforehand thought, protecting an space of some 25 to 50 hectares, which is an enormous metropolis by that interval’s requirements. Normally, settlements at the moment and on this space coated only some hectares,” says Peter Fischer.
Throughout the Bronze Age, Cyprus was the most important copper producer across the Mediterranean. This metallic alloyed with tin fashioned the premise for making bronze which was then used for casting instruments, weapons, and jewellery earlier than iron began getting used.
“Stays within the metropolis present in depth copper manufacturing within the type of smelting furnaces, forged molds, and slag. The ore from which the copper was extracted was introduced into the town from mines within the close by Troodos Mountains. The workshops produced plenty of soot and had been positioned within the north of the town in order that the winds primarily from the south would blow the soot and the stench away from the town. Right now, this kind of manufacturing could be unimaginable, for the reason that manufacturing course of generates waste merchandise comparable to arsenic, lead, and cadmium, however at the moment individuals didn't understand how harmful the method was,” says Peter Fischer.
Imported items from Sardinia (1), Italy (2), Crete (3), Greece (4), Türkiye (5), Israel (6), Egypt (7), Iraq (8), necklace with beads and a scarab (Ramesses II) from Egypt, Afghanistan and India (9) have all been present in Hala Sultan Tekke. Credit score: T. Bürge
Massive portions of imported items
The central location of Cyprus within the japanese Mediterranean and a well-protected harbor created very favorable circumstances for vigorous commerce in Hala Sultan Tekke. Massive portions of imported items within the type of pottery, jewellery, and different luxurious items from neighboring areas comparable to modern-day Greece, Türkiye, the Center East, and Egypt, in addition to longer-distance imports from Sardinia, the Baltic Sea area, Afghanistan and India have been discovered. These finds present that the town was one of many largest commerce hubs within the interval 1500–1150 BC and was of nice significance through the preliminary interval of worldwide commerce within the space.
Along with copper, extremely sought-after purple-dyed textiles had been additionally produced. The dye got here from purple dye murex species from which the mucus that produced the purple dye was extracted. The town additionally produced and exported pottery with attribute painted motifs of people, animals, and crops. The researchers confer with the artist behind these painted motifs because the ‘Hala Sultan Tekke painter’.
“The beauty of the numerous pottery finds is that we are able to help our colleagues across the Mediterranean and past. No pottery has the identical unfold because the coveted Cypriot pottery throughout this era. By discovering domestically made pottery that we are able to date in the identical layer as different imported pottery that was beforehand troublesome thus far, we are able to synchronize these and assist colleagues date their finds,” says Peter Fischer.
The identify of the Bronze Age metropolis comes from the expedition having initially named the location after the mosque, Hala Sultan Tekke, which now stands near the excavation web site. Commerce flourished within the metropolis for nearly 500 years, however like a number of different refined Bronze Age civilizations across the Mediterranean, Hala Sultan Tekke collapsed simply after 1200 BC. The prevailing speculation was that the ‘Sea Peoples’ invaded the japanese Mediterranean round this time, destroying its cities and bringing the Bronze Age civilizations to an finish.
“Previously, it was thought that the ‘Sea Peoples’ had been the only clarification. Our analysis lately has given extra nuance to this clarification. For instance, there at the moment are new interpretations of written sources from this era in Anatolia (modern-day Türkiye), Syria, and Egypt, which inform of epidemics, famine, revolutions, and acts of conflict by invading peoples. As well as, our investigations point out that a deterioration within the local weather was a contributing issue. All of this will have had a domino impact, that individuals looking for higher dwelling circumstances moved from the central Mediterranean in the direction of the south-east, thus coming into battle with the cultures in modern-day Greece, on Cyprus and in Egypt,” concludes Peter Fischer.
Reference: “Interregional commerce at Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus: Evaluation and chronology of imports” by Peter M. Fischer, 14 November 2022, Journal of Archaeological Science: Experiences.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103722
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