Workshop Fischer/Bürge

Bronze Age Cyprus: Regionalism versus Interculturalism

Organizers: Peter M. Fischer (Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg) / Teresa Bürge (Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology, Austrian Academy of Sciences)

Abstract

Due to its central position in eastern Mediterranean Cyprus has played a pivotal role as a hub for international trade during the Bronze Age. Trade networks started to develop in the Early Bronze Age and were most intense in the Late Bronze Age, i.e. in the second half of the second millennium BCE. At the same time, the island kept its very distinct insular character and material culture with some strong regional characteristics.
The aim of this workshop is to approach questions and problems related to the local and eastern Mediterranean economy. Another is the mobility of people and connected issues such as seafaring, the transformation of ideas and material culture, foreign influences and cultural synchronisations.
According to textual sources and the archaeological evidence supported by scientific analyses, the export of copper was the main economical factor that led to the prosperity of the island. From the second half of the second millennium BCE on, Cypriot pottery was one of the most coveted and spread single products in the entire Mediterranean area and beyond. Consequently, Cypriot pottery together with Mycenaean are our foremost tools for cultural synchronisation and relative chronology. Today, our knowledge concerning the relations between contemporaneous urban centres on Cyprus and their intra-island trade patterns is quite limited. Were these urban centres rivals or did they cooperate in order to develop the economy and political power of the island?
The focus of this workshop lies on the results of recent research and ongoing projects.

Participants

Luca Bombardieri (Dipartimento Studi Umanistici, Università di Torino)
Teresa Bürge (Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology, Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Peter M. Fischer (Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg)
Despina Pilides (Department of Antiquities, Cyprus)
Lorenzo Mazzotta (Department of Civilizations and Shapes of Knowledge, University of Pisa)
Laerke Recht (McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge)
Paula Waiman-Barak (Department of Maritime Civilizations, University of Haifa)

Programme

9:00 Luca Bombardieri: Broadening the circle. Community, industry and intra-island mobility in Middle Bronze Age Cyprus
9:30 Peter M. Fischer: The Late Bronze Age harbour city of Hala Sultan Tekke: Economy and intercultural relations
10:00 Teresa Bürge: Intra-island relations reflected in the local pottery of Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus
10:30 Lorenzo Mazzotta/Laerke Recht: Imported Aegean pottery at Late Bronze Age Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus
11:00 Coffee break
11:30 Paula Waiman-Barak: Provenance Analysis of Late Bronze Age Ceramics from Hala-Sultan Tekke
12:00 Despina Pilides: Inland Cyprus in the Late Bronze Age: Regional or intercultural? Evidence from the region of Agios Sozomenos
12:30 Laerke Recht: Mycenaean ‘Chariot Kraters’ in Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean in the LBA