Circulation of Cypriot pottery in the Middle Bronze Age

Abstract

In any historical perspective of the Bronze Ages of Cyprus the complexity of development in the Middle Bronze Age has been overshadowed by presuming that the origins of Late Bronze Age internationalism lie within the Middle Bronze Age. This thesis, therefore, is an attempt to assess the circulation of Cypriot pottery abroad within the Middle Bronze Age without recourse to extrapolation from the situation in the Late Bronze Age. Circulation has been adopted as a neutral descriptive term for the 'export' of Cypriot pottery abroad.

The thesis comprises two parts. Volume II is a catalogue of over 800 pieces of Cypriot pottery from over 40 sites in the East Mediterranean. The catalogue provides information on ware type, context and distribution, from which an assessment of Cypriot pottery abroad has been attempted in Volume I.

Volume I, Chapter II reviews the literature pertaining to Cypriot pottery abroad in the Middle Bronze Age and demonstrates how the'eiport' of Cypriot pottery has been assumed to be synonymous with Cypriot foreign relations.

The classification of the Cypriot pottery is reassessed in Chapter III in attempt to gauge the chronological and cultural implications of the distribution of Cypriot pottery within Cyprus. The problems of recognising and interpreting ceramic variability have been tackled and illustrated through a case study of individual stylistic variation in White Painted V Fine Line Style.

The significance of Cypriot pottery abroad for chronology was realised at an early stage. In Chapter IV the ramifications for Cypriot relative and absolute chronology are systematically dealt with. There has been a tendency to use the 'export' of Cypriot pottery in the Middle Bronze Age to establish fixed points in the absolute sequence in Cyprus. The limitations of such an exercise are discussed and a cautious approach to the absolute chronology of Cyprus is advocated.

Chapter V analyses the pottery in its geographical, chronological and cultural context. This involved a survey of other types of small, narrow-necked juglets from Syria, Palestine and Egypt. The patterns suggested a diversified exchange network in the Middle Bronze Age, consisting of a complex circulation of Cypriot, Red Burnished, Red Polished and Tell el Yahudiyeh wares; the Late Bronze Age circulation of Cypriot and Red Lustrous Wheclmade, however, suggested a simplification in the exchange.

Chapter VI presents the results of Neutron Activation Analysis on a number of Cypriot sherds from Tell el Dab'a. The analysis successfully identified the existence of Cypriot, Palestinian and Egyptian clay sources which satisfied questions on the origin of Bichrome Ware at Tell el Dab'a, and also the existence of imitations of Cypriot pottery.