OXHIDE INGOTS, COPPER PRODUCTION, AND THE MEDITERRANEAN TRADE IN COPPER AND OTHER METALS IN THE BRONZE AGE A Thesis by MICHAEL RICE JONES Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS May 2007 Major Subject: Anthropology OXHIDE INGOTS, COPPER PRODUCTION, AND THE MEDITERRANEAN TRADE IN COPPER AND OTHER METALS IN THE BRONZE AGE A Thesis by MICHAEL RICE JONES Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Approved by: Chair of Committee, Cemal Pulak Committee Members, Shelley Wachsmann Christoph Konrad Head of Department, David Carlson May 2007 Major Subject: Anthropology iii ABSTRACT Oxhide Ingots, Copper Production, and the Mediterranean Trade in Copper and Other Metals in the Bronze Age. (May 2007) Michael Rice Jones, B.A., Boston University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Cemal Pulak The production and trade in copper and bronze was one of the major features of the complex societies in the Near East and Mediterranean during the third to first millennia B.C. While finished metal objects are common finds from the period, ancient metal ingots and hoards of scrap metal, as well as archaeological evidence of metallurgical activities, are often more important sources of information for how ancient technology and trade functioned. Shipwrecks, particularly those found off the coast of Turkey at Uluburun and Cape Gelidonya, as well as mining and smelting sites in the Mediterranean region, provide invaluable information on the production and trade of copper and tin, the main ingredients of bronze. In this thesis, I examine the evolution of the copper trade in the eastern and central Mediterranean, particularly during the Late Bronze Age, when ‘oxhide’ ingots were widely exported. Finds of oxhide ingots have increased dramatically in recent years, and no synthesis of all of this newly available evidence is currently available. I attempt to analyze this new evidence in relation to older finds and research, with a particular focus on the cargo of the Uluburun shipwreck, the largest collection of Bronze Age metal ingots from a single site in the Mediterranean. The history of oxhide ingot production is complex, but by the Late Bronze Age Cyprus was supplying much of the copper used to neighboring regions, with revolutionary effects on societies in Cyprus and elsewhere. iv The archaeological evidence shows that oxhide ingots are early examples of a standardized industrial product made for export by emerging state-level societies during the second millennium B.C. and fueled the development of international trade, metallurgical technology, and complex social institutions in a variety of Mediterranean societies from Egypt and the Levant, Greece, Cyprus, to Sardinia in the central Mediterranean. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my committee members, Dr. Cemal Pulak, Dr. Shelley Wachsmann, and Dr. Cristoph Konrad. Cemal Pulak and George Bass’ work on the Uluburun shipwreck first stimulated my interest in the topic of the metals trade in the Bronze Age Mediterranean several years before I enrolled in Texas A&M, and their publications on Bronze Age Mediterranean shipwrecks and Bronze Age trade have been extremely valuable in researching this thesis. I am particularly indebted to Dr. Pulak, my committee chair, for giving me the opportunity to travel to Turkey in the summers of 2003 and 2004 and from June to December of 2005 to assist in several research projects, including the study of the copper ingots from the Uluburun shipwreck. This experience has been invaluable in understanding the Uluburun site, the literature on Bronze Age metals, and the problems associated with reconstructing the metals trade in the Bronze Age. I would like to thank Shelley Wachsmann for his enthusiastic and imaginative approach to teaching about ancient trade and seafaring in the Mediterranean. Two of Dr. Wachsmann’s books, Aegeans in the Theban Tombs and Ships and Seafaring in the Bronze Age Levant, have also been particularly valuable reference works for this thesis. Dr. Pulak has also provided access to unpublished artifact catalogs, excavation notes, photographs, and other materials related to the Uluburun site which were invaluable for the discussions of the physical characteristics of Bronze Age copper ingots and the vi technology involved in ancient smelting, refining, and casting of metal ingots. I am indebted to the many students and colleagues of Dr. Pulak who have contributed to this material since the site’s discovery in 1982, though I personally know only the most recent contributers from the Nautical Archaeology Program at Texas A&M University. Appendix B, a description of terms used in the physical description of oxhide and bun ingots from the Uluburun ship, is based on work by myself and Tom Larson, under the guidance of Cemal Pulak, during the summer of 2003. Tom also worked extensively on the organization and artifact descriptions of the copper oxhide and bun ingot catalogs. Sam Lin was a major contributer to the work on the copper bun ingots. Mark Polzer assembled the oxhide and bun ingot catalogs in their current form, including the scanning of hundreds of artifact photos, while Wendy van Duivenvoorde recently completed the latest revisions and reorganization of the tin ingot catalog. I would also like to thank the staff at the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology in Bodrum, Turkey, for their assistance during my periods of work on the Uluburun ingots at the museum in July and August of 2003 and 2004, and in October of 2005. Conservation work performed at the Bodrum Museum, under the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA), since the excavation of the Uluburun wreck has made a detailed study of the metal ingots from the wreck possible. Finally, I would like to thank my parents, who since childhood have always encouraged my interest in archaeology. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS................................................................................. v TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................. vii LIST OF FIGURES........................................................................................... x LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................ xiii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION. OXHIDE INGOTS, COPPER PRODUCTION, AND THE MEDITERRANEAN COPPER TRADE IN THE BRONZE AGE............................................................................... 1 II TEXTUAL EVIDENCE FOR COPPER PRODUCTION AND TRADE IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN BRONZE AGE.............................................................................................. 10 Copper Ingots in Egyptian Texts and Tomb Paintings .......... 33 Textual Evidence for Organized Metalworking in Mycenaean and Syro-Palestinian States................................. 40 1) Pylos and Knossos .................................................... 40 2) Alalakh...................................................................... 45 3) Ugarit........................................................................ 47 Textual Evidence for Trade in Metals in Anatolia and the Near East ................................................................................ 58 Mesopotamian Texts and Iconographic Evidence ................. 62 III THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXTS AND PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF BRONZE AGE METAL INGOTS... 71 Oxhide Ingots ......................................................................... 71 Incised and Impressed Marks on Bronze Age Ingots............. 96 IV SMELTING TECHNOLOGY AND THE PROCESSING AND SMELTING OF COPPER ORES IN THE BRONZE AGE............................................................................. 110 Fuel for Metallurgical Processes............................................ 123 Bronze Age Evidence for Smelting Technology.................... 131 viii CHAPTER Page V COPPER AND TIN SOURCES IN THE MEDITERRANEAN REGION DURING THE BRONZE AGE ................................... 144 VI SOURCING COPPER: LEAD ISOTOPE AND TRACE ELEMENT ANALYSES OF COPPER INGOTS AND OTHER BRONZE AGE COPPER AND BRONZE ARTIFACTS ................................................................................ 167 Results of Lead Isotope and Trace Element Analyses of Bronze Age Mediterranean Artifacts ..................................... 178 VII BRONZE AGE METALLURGICAL PRODUCTION AND THE MANUFACTURE OF COPPER INGOTS ............... 202 Ingot Composition and Evidence for Production Processes .. 203 Evidence for Bronze-Age Metallurgical Installations and the Casting of Copper Ingots.................................................. 208 VIII ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR COPPER PRODUCTION IN LATE BRONZE AGE CYPRUS ................. 239 Evidence of Large-Scale Metallurgical Activity Pre-dating the Late Bronze Age/Late Cypriot Period............ 242 Aegean and Near Eastern Copper Sources of the Early and Middle Bronze Age................................................ 250 Late Cypriot Sites and the Copper Trade............................... 262 Metallurgy in Cypriot Coastal Settlements ............................ 271 1) Enkomi...................................................................... 271 2) Kition .......................................................................