Cipro tra produzione e controllo ideologico: la circolazione del metallo nel periodo TC IIC – TC IIIA

This paper will have at its focus the complicated connection between the production and circulation of copper and the control over it exercised by political elites and religious authorities. During the Late Cypriot period, copper production and trade were a central source of wealth and internal development on the island. This can be seen in terms of external trade, but also in relation to an ideological control of this metal by religious authorities in the urban centers. Indeed, workshops were situated in close vicinity to sanctuaries, and symbols iconographically related to metallurgy are attested specifically at Enkomi, with notable specimens being the Ingot God statuette and the miniature bronze ingots. The transition between the LC IIC and LC IIIA periods marks a phase of radical transition all over the East Mediterranean, characterized by the decline of economic exchanges, as well as a destruction horizon clearly visible in many macro-regions of the Mediterranean. On Cyprus, a destruction level is attested in many large settlements, but such discontinuity cannot be ascribed to several sites of crucial cultural importance, such as Enkomi, Kition and Palaepaphos, which enjoyed a new floruit. This paper aims to define the cultural sequence for the transition to LC IIIA in a critical light.