Field works at Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus, shed light on the scope of interregional trade in which this Bronze Age harbor city participated from the 15th to the 12th centuries BCE, according to an archaeologist from the University of Gothenburg.
The Late Bronze Age city of Hala Sultan Tekke is situated on the southeast coast of Cyprus on the shore of the Larnaca Salt Lake near the international airport of Larnaca.
Apart from a horse stable, the site is not covered by modern structures and thus ideal for archaeological research.
The position of the city on the shoreline of a Mediterranean bay, which in the Bronze Age cut deep into the island, provided an excellent sheltered harbor, and contributed to the city’s ability to establish and amplify interregional contacts.
“We have found huge quantities of imported pottery in Hala Sultan Tekke, but also luxury goods made of gold, silver, ivory and semi-precious gemstones which show that the city’s production of copper was a trading commodity in high demand,” said University of Gothenburg’s Professor Peter Fischer.
“Our investigations and excavations show that Hala Sultan Tekke was larger than was previously thought, covering an area of some 25 to 50 hectares, which is a big city by that period’s standards.”
“Usually, settlements at this time and in this area covered only a few hectares.”
“Remains in the city show extensive copper production in the form of smelting furnaces, cast moulds and slag,” he added.
“The ore from which the copper was extracted was brought into the city from mines in the nearby Troodos Mountains.”
“The workshops produced a lot of soot and were placed in the north of the city so that the winds mainly from the south would blow the soot and the stench away from the city.”
“Today, this type of production would be impossible, since the production process generates waste products such as arsenic, lead and cadmium, but at that time people did not know how dangerous…
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