Early Copper Production in the Polis Region, Western Cyprus

Abstract

A region near the modern town of Polis in western Cyprus was chosen as the location for a program of archaeological survey and test excavation of metallurgical sites. Forty-nine metallurgical and related sites were located) recorded) and dated. These sites represent more than 2000 years of local copper metallurgy from the Late Iron Age to the Late Medieval period (ca. 8th century B.C. to the 15th century A.C.).The analysis of resource use, copper production, and site distribution provides a picture of organizational patterns in the local copper industry through time. Three possible alternative models of the organization of the local industry are proposed and tested. Copper production in the Polis region was an essentially local enterprise based on part-time, seasonal production in a peasant economy. Changes in the political and economic contexts affected the patterns of distribution and consumption of copper products, but production remained relatively small in scale and locally organized throughout its 2000 year history in the Polis region.

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