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The Copper Mines of Cyprus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2013

Extract

There is no doubt that during the historical period Cyprus was a copper-mining centre of great importance; not only does the literary evidence testify to this, but also the large slag-heaps found in many parts of the island. It is not our intention, however, to treat of this period, but to examine how far Cyprus produced copper during the bronze age.

Prof. Gjerstad has, in his Studies on Prehistoric Cyprus, shewn that at least till the end of the bronze age there seems to be no racial change in the population, the cultural development being steady. During Late Cypriot II and III, however, Mycenean ware and its local imitations become so frequent that it is likely that Mycenean overlords were ruling in Cyprus; such a state of affairs fits in well with Mycenean history of this time, and probably now Cyprus began to be hellenised.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1930

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References

page 74 note 1 Cf. Polyaen. 3, 10, 14; Plin., N.H. 11, 36Google Scholar; 36,19; Steph. Byz. s.v. Tamassus; Hesych. s.v. Σολοιτύπος; also derivation of ‘copper’ from Aes Cyprium. Some gold and silver was also produced: cf. Str. 684, silver from Tamassus; Arist. Fr. 266, gold from Boucasa, site unknown. Cullis, Metalliferous Deposits of Cyprus, mentions fair quantities of gold and silver in the slime under the ore-body of Scouriotissa; cf. Rickard, , J.R.S. xviii, p. 129Google Scholar, for Roman working in such slime at Rio Tinto. Mr. Kepler told me that there is gold and silver at Tamassus, and Buffon, Histoire naturelle des Minéraux, mentions gold from Cyprus in 1785.

page 74 note 2 Marked on the Government Map of Cyprus.

page 75 note 1 This information I owe to Mr. Kepler. Cullis, loc. cit., gives analyses of pre-Roman and Roman slag from Scouriotissa, and six other tests are published in Terreil, , C.R. Acad. Sciences, 1861, 53, 1275Google Scholar. The manganese percentage varies between 20 and 40, though Cullis shews that the pre-Roman slag has only 10·5%; only the slag from the summit of Troodos contains no more than a trace of manganese, and Oberhummer, Das Insel Cypern, suggests that it may have been re-worked, or it may be a refinery slag. Such quantities of manganese do not exist in the ore; cf. Cullis, loc. cit., ore from Scouriotissa with ·01%; and Mr. Kepler thinks that terra umbra, which exists on the island, was added as a flux; others doubt this on metallurgical grounds.

page 75 note 2 E.g. Athens, Man, 1931, 6Google Scholar; Larsa, Montelius, Aeltere Kulturperioden; von Miske, Velem St. Veit, Archiv. für Anthropologie, 1904, 2, p. 124Google Scholar; Tischhof Cave, Kyrle, Oesterreichische Kunsttopographie, 17Google Scholar.

page 76 note 1 Pernice, , Jahresh. 1904, p. 154Google Scholar; cf. especially in Bohemia, Richlý, Bronzezeit in Boehmen.

page 76 note 2 Loc. cit., p. 230.

page 76 note 3 Dawn of European Civilisation, p. 313.

page 76 note 4 Schmidt, Schliemannsammlung, No. 5854.

page 76 note 5 Hampel, , Z. f. E. 1896, 75Google Scholar.

page 76 note 6 Pulszky, , Kupferzeit in Ungarn, p. 79Google Scholar.

page 76 note 7 Menglin, , Wiener Praehistorische Zs., 3, p. 20Google Scholar.

page 76 note 8 Antiqua, 1885, p. 107, Pl. 23, Fig. 10Google Scholar.

page 76 note 9 Schmidt, loc. cit., No. 5842.

page 76 note 10 Loc. cit., p. 275.

page 77 note 1 Schránil, , Studie o vzniku Kultury bronzové v Cechach, p. 69Google Scholar.

page 77 note 2 Naqada and Ballas, p. 48, Pl. 65, Fig. 19.

page 77 note 3 Ohnefalsch-Richter, , Kypros, p. 146Google Scholar.

page 77 note 4 Doerpfeld, , Troja und Ilion, p. 356Google Scholar.

page 77 note 5 von Miske, , Archiv für Anthropologie, 1917, p. 253Google Scholar.

page 77 note 6 Fiala, , Mitt, aus Bosnien, i, p. 137Google Scholar.

page 77 note 7 Karner, , Mitt. d. anthropol. Ges. in Wien, 13, p. 221Google Scholar.

page 77 note 8 Petrie, Gurob.

page 77 note 9 Childe, , Antiquity, 1927, p. 79Google Scholar. They are thought to be copper ingots brought to Bohemia from the south; cf. Schránil, loc. cit. Mertins, , Schlesiens Vorzeit, i, 7, p. 341Google Scholar, has analysed many from Silesia, and found much silver, which is not found in Cypriot bronzes, but might connect with Hungary, though the silver percentage there is lower and not common; cf. Loczka, , Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, Math. Term. Ért. 7, 1889, p. 275Google Scholar. This assumes there is no copper in Bohemia, which is wrong; cf. the many mines in Waagen, Heiderich'sWirtschaftsgeog. Karten und Abh. Vol. XGoogle Scholar; but it is unknown, if they are earlier than early medieval.

page 77 note 10 Schránil, loc. cit., p. 49.

page 78 note 1 Cf. Roman ones from Anglesea, Evans, , Arch. Jour. xxx, 1873, p. 63Google Scholar. The one from Cyprus was about 11¾ in. long, 7¾ in. broad, and 1¼ in. thick. It was rough on the flat side and smooth on the curved. It probably comes from the crucible, used in the second process of reducing the oxides, the first of converting the carbonates to oxides being done in the furnace.

page 78 note 2 Murray, , Excavations in Cyprus, p. 15Google Scholar.

page 78 note 3 Amtl. Ber. preuss. St. 1913–14, p. 210Google Scholar.

page 78 note 4 Hazzidakis, p. 56.

page 78 note 5 B.S.A. ix. p. 276Google Scholar.

page 79 note 1 Evans, , Corolla Numismatica, p. 357Google Scholar.

page 79 note 2 Reallexicon der Vorgeschichte, s.v. Geld.

page 79 note 3 Hazzidakis, p. 56.

page 79 note 4 Svoronos, Les premières Monnaies.

page 79 note 5 Pigorini, , Bull. Paletn. ital. 1904, p. 91Google Scholar.

page 79 note 6 Wainwright, , Liverpool Annals, 1914, p. 24Google Scholar.

page 79 note 7 Though the ingot from Tylissus is said to have been analysed, the remarkable similarity between its figures and those of the ingot from H. Triada is suspicious.

page 80 note 1 B.S.A. xxv. p. 37Google Scholar. The information on Tsoundas' finds I owe to the hotel-keeper at Mycenae, who worked under him; I have, however, been unable to find any of this slag in the dumps, but several bits of malachite which he found are at Athens, National Museum No. 3250. Some bronze age axes were also found in a mine on Othrys, Bosanquet, Rep. British Assoc. 1905, sect. H., Athens National Museum 12445; Dr. Bosanquet tells me that they were given by Dr. Zeituniatis, who only owned Spartia and Gardiki, and as Gardiki alone is ancient, these axes must come thence, and so the mine was working in the bronze age.

page 80 note 2 Klio, 1914, 1Google Scholar.

page 80 note 3 Apart from the places he mentions, copper exists at Sheikh-Mokhsin Dag near Aleppo; Freck Glueckauf, 1915, 412. With regard to the χομτ ν βαρωτ of Roman times in Egypt, which is the same as χαλκολίβανος and aurichalcum, Lepsius, , Zs. f. aeg. Sprache und Altertumskunde, 10, p. 116Google Scholar, suggests that βαρωτ points to Beirut, , and Gardner, , J. Eg. Arch. 1917, p. 35Google Scholar, that Bierudh of the Stele of Akhthoy of the early XII dynasty is the same as βαρωτ; this again would point to a Syrian source of copper.

page 81 note 1 Lead, for instance, is found in north Syria at Elma Dag, Cuinet, Turquie d'Asie, to say nothing of Bulgar Ma'den and Bereketli Ma'den, which are certainly early; Reallexicon der Vorgeschichte, s.v. Bulgar Ma'den; Sayce, , Antiquity, 1928, p. 224Google Scholar.

page 81 note 2 F.O. Handbook of Cyprus, 1920, p. 47Google Scholar; Σακελλάριος, Κυπριακά mentions lead between Acamas and Zephyrium and on Stavrovouni; cf. Roswag, L'Argent et l'Or.

page 81 note 3 Montelius, , Chronologie der aeltesten Bronzezeit, p. 152Google Scholar; Pauly-Wissowa, s.vv. Bergbau and Kupfer; cf. Bischoff, Das Kupfer und seine Legierungen, who says that the mines are still working. I feel, however, more doubtful after visiting the place.

page 81 note 4 The Coppa Nevigata evidence is too confused to give certainty; cf. Mosso, , Mon. Ant. 19, 1908, p. 311Google Scholar; Peet, , Liverpool Annals, 1910, p. 122Google Scholar.

page 82 note 1 N.H. vii, 56, 195Google Scholar.

page 82 note 2 v, 64, 5.

page 82 note 3 654.

page 82 note 4 i, 15, 5.

page 82 note 5 s.v. Αἰδηψός.

page 82 note 6 This probably refers to an important copper-working centre near at Choeronisi, which goes back to the beginning of the iron age.

page 83 note 1 The source of this arsenical copper is uncertain; Berthelot, , C.R. Acad. Sciences, 1896, 2, p. 365Google Scholar, denies the presence of arsenic in the ore at Sinai, but Hume, Topography and Geology of S.E. Sinai, says that some trial smelting of the Wadi Nasb ore in 1822 suggested by the smell the presence of arsenic, and ·45% occurs in the slag from Serabit-el-Khadem; Sebelien, , Ancient Egypt, 1924, 6Google Scholar. A Cycladic saw from Aila on Naxos, Zenghelis, in Mélanges Nicole, p. 603Google Scholar, Stephanos, , Congr. intern, d'Arch. 1905, 1, 216Google Scholar, contained 2·62%, and Zenghelis says that the copper was rubbed with arsenic to give it a white shining surface.

I doubt if Sinai was the only or even principal source of Egyptian copper in the early periods. The calculations of Lucas, , Jour. Egypt. Arch. 1927, p. 162CrossRefGoogle Scholar, seem dangerous, as he probably over-estimates the depth of the slag-heaps and the richness of the ore, which is poor now; there is no evidence that the piece of hydrosilicate containing 40–50% copper from El Amrah comes from Sinai; Berthelot, Ann. Chimie et Phys. vii, 11, 47Google Scholar. If malachite was used for painting the face, this would account for extensive workings without any metal to shew for them.

page 83 note 2 Cf. especially Dioscor. v, 74, 75, which can refer to nothing but zinc.

page 83 note 3 Reyer, , Jour. f. prakt. Chemie, 1885, p. 258Google Scholar, suggests that phosphorus was introduced into bronze by secret magical processes, such as blood or bones being put into the crucible.

page 83 note 4 Cullis, loc. cit., mentions a slime consisting of soluble salts of iron and copper with some gold at Scouriotissa, but it is under the ore-body.

page 83 note 5 Loc. cit.

page 83 note 6 E.g. Hertz, loc. cit.

page 83 note 7 The figures are: Mitsero, Cu 2·1%, S 6·29%, Ni none; Scouriotissa, Cu ·56%, Ni ·86%, S 4·31%, mainly limestone; Scouriotissa, Cu 2%, S ·22%, Ni none, mainly silica; Limni, Cu traces with no Ni; Kalavaso, Cu 16·58%, S 7·36%, Ni none; Kalavaso, Cu 9%, S ·43%. Ni none. I also have made three rough analyses of ores from Cyprus, owing to the kindness of the Chemical Department of Queen's University, Belfast, who gave me facilities; in pyrite from Kappedes and Lefkara I found respectively ·24% and ·32% Pb but no Cu, Sn, Sb, As; but in ore from Mitsero I found Fe 36·51%, Cu 2·52%, Zn ·46%, Sb small quantities, no As, Pb, Ag. The last is interesting, as it shews the source of some of the Cypriot cadmia.

page 84 note 1 Homer, Λ 20; Apollodorus, , Epit. 3, 9Google Scholar, says that an embassy of Greeks was sent to persuade Cinyras to join the war, and that he promised to send fifty ships; we do not hear that he promised personal service, so he may have been rather old for such a long journey.

page 84 note 2 Church, , Proc. Soc. Antiq. London, ii, 19, p. 131Google Scholar.

page 84 note 3 Schmidt, Schliemannsammlung, Nos. 6168, 6169, 6901.

page 85 note 1 Mart. Pal. 13, 2.

page 85 note 2 Histoire naturelle des Minéraux.