Ancient Mining Tools from Cyprus

A brief history of copper mining in Cyprus

The island of Cyprus bears some of the richest copper ore deposits in Europe. They are located in the geological formation of the pillow lavas, which forms a ring around the Troodos Mountains¹ (fig. 1a). The copper smelting started during the third millennium BC. Evidence for the export of copper in the Middle Bronze Age is provided by texts dating to the 19th – 17th c. BC from Babylon, Mari and Alalakh, which refer to copper from Alashiya, the name by which the island was known to her neighbours in the Bronze Age.² The earliest unequivocal evidence of prehistoric mining also dates to this period. This comes from the Ambelikou mine where, in 1942, the modern miners intersected ancient underground workings where pottery dating to the Middle Bronze Age (c. 2100-1650 BC) was found.³ They also reported the discovery of “stone axes and rounded stones with holes” but, unfortunately, they were not kept or recorded with photographs.⁴ Nearby, at the site of Aletri, the settlement where these miners would have lived was briefly excavated. Among the stone tools discovered onsite many were identified as tools for the processing of the ores.⁵ Unfortunately, since the Turkish invasion of the island in 1974, the site and the mine are beyond the effective control of the Republic of Cyprus and therefore no further fieldwork has been done. 

In the Late Bronze Age (c. 1650 – 1050 BC), copper production and export greatly intensified.⁶ Excavations have brought to light a primary smelting workshop at the site of Politiko-Phorades⁷and numerous copper workshops within the coastal urban centres, the most important of which was Enkomi on the East coast⁸ (fig. 1b). The copper produced on the island was cast into ingots (mainly of the oxhide type)⁹ and exported. Such ingots have been found across the Mediterranean, in the Balkans, in Germany, in Egypt and as far east as Babylon. According to lead isotope analysis, they are consistent with a provenance from the Apliki ore deposit.¹⁰ When modern mining was launched at Apliki in the 1930s, a mining settlement dating to the Late Bronze Age was discovered.¹¹ However, like at Ambelikou, only a limited rescue excavation was undertaken there and the site has since been destroyed, because of opencast mining in the 1960s. Among the finds from the settlement were three perforated stone hammers, which must have been used for ore processing as has been suggested in other mining regions such as Timna and Sardinia.¹²

In the first millennium BC, Cyprus was divided into city kingdoms.¹³ It is very difficult to define the political boundaries of the Cypriot Iron Age polities, due to constant renegotiations between the kingdoms. However, it is important to note that most of them have copper mines at a distance of less than 15 km from their capital.¹⁴ It is thus believed that their economy and wealth was based on the exploitation of the copper and there is plenty of evidence showing that copper mining and smelting increased even more in this period and throughout the 1st mill. BC.¹⁵ After a complex period where Cyprus was vassal to the political powers competing for dominance in the Near East, the island became part of the Ptolemaic kingdom of Egypt, after the death of Alexander the Great.¹⁶ The island was governed from Paphos by a strategos appointed by the king of Egypt. An inscription referring to the Antistrategos Potamos son of Aegyptus, administrator of the mines, may indicate that the strategos was in charge of the mines.¹⁷ In 30 BC, after the death of Cleopatra, the last Ptolemaic queen, the island became a roman province which was put under the rule of the Senate by the emperor Augustus.¹⁸ As in other Roman provinces, the Cypriot copper mines were directed by a procurator.¹⁹ We owe this valuable information to the Roman doctor Galen who visited the island in 166 AD, in order to collect minerals to produce medicaments.²⁰ In his books De Antidotis and De Simplicium Medicamentorum Temperamentis, he left rare eyewitness accounts of what he saw in the mines he visited near the ancient city of Soloi, one of the Iron Age city kingdoms.²¹ The mines near Soloi include, apart from Ambelikou and Apliki, Mavrovouni and Skouriotissa. The latter is the location of the largest ancient slag heaps on the island, and one of the largest known elsewhere for this period.²² Recent fieldwork at the Skouriotissa slag heap, as well as other slag heaps around the island, has shown that the Late Roman/Early Byzantine period, namely the 4th-7th c. AD, was actually the time when copper mining and smelting had reached industrial levels.²³ I have argued that this is probably related to the split of the Roman Empire and to the need of the Eastern Empire, better known as the Byzantine Empire, to have access to large quantities of metal, having severed its ties with the copper-rich Iberian Peninsula and other copper-rich regions in Central Europe.²⁴ At the end of the 7th c. AD, the copper industry comes to an abrupt end. The reasons are still unclear. It was probably a combination of dramatic events, e.g. Arab invasions, climate change, several breakouts of the plague, and perhaps an over-exploitation of the forests²⁵. 

For more than a thousand years the mines lay abandoned. At the end of the 19th c. AD, Cyprus came under the rule of the British Empire and there was a renewed interest in the exploitation of the copper ore deposits.²⁶ The fact that the ancient sources often mentioned Cyprus’ wealth in copper is what led an American prospector, by the name of Charles Godfrey Gunther, to come to the island in 1912 and to visit Skouriotissa.²⁷ He soon started exploration drilling and managed to discover one of the richest ore deposits on the island. In order to exploit Skouriotissa, a new company, the Cyprus Mines Corporation (CMC), was registered in New York City and expanded greatly in Cyprus and all over the world.²⁸ The company stayed active on the island until the Turkish invasion in 1974, finally closing down all operations in 1976.²⁹ Eventually other mining companies also start the exploitation of several copper ore deposits.³⁰ The most important of these is the Hellenic Mining Corporation (HMC). Most mining activities ceased by the 1980s. The only exception is the mine of Skouriotissa, which was exploited by Hellenic Copper Mines until recently.

Ancient mining tools from Cyprus

The mining resumption revealed the ancient works and within them tools of the ancient miners. Thanks to the interest of James Latimer Bruce, a mining engineer who served as the resident director of CMC from 1925 to 1935, the ancient works were noted in the plans of the mine and the objects found within were collected. Bruce, in collaboration with D.M. Creveling, presented the information he gathered in a paper published in 1937, as an Appendix to the third volume of the “Swedish Cyprus Expedition”, a corpus recognized as the foundation of the field of Cypriot Archaeology. The paper entitled “Antiquities in the mines of Cyprus” includes information regarding the ancient mining technology, the plans and the sections of the ancient adits, and photographs of the mining tools and the slag heaps. Although other studies have since been published,³¹ the fact that the ancient mines have been largely destroyed because of opencast mining, together with the fact that little work has been done in the field to record them, means that more than eighty years later, Bruce’s publication remains the most comprehensive study of the ancient Cypriot mines. 

This is why a recent research project, entitled “Skouriotissa: Interdisciplinary study of the archaeology and environment of Cyprus’ last operating copper mine” and coordinated by the author, was launched. The aim of the project is to record the history, archaeology and ancient environment of the mine of Skouriotissa.³² An effort was made to collect as much information on the ancient and modern history of the mine, from the national archives and from the personal archives of the modern miners.

Among the scopes of the project was the study of the mining tools recovered from the mine of Skouriotissa and other mines exploited by CMC, such as Mavrovouni, Apliki and Mathiatis. The objects once formed a collection that was kept in the headquarters of CMC in Skouriotissa and were catalogued by an officer of the Department of Antiquities in 1951.³³ When the company ceased operations in 1976, the objects were given to the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus. Some of them were put on display in the Cyprus Museum together with artefacts from the private collection of Nikos Charalambides, a mining engineer and director of the Kambia Mines company and others from the collection of the Hellenic Mining Corporation (HMC) which were also donated to the Department of Antiquities. The assemblage is unique in that it includes artefacts made of organic materials, which usually do not survive in archaeological sites in Cyprus. The aim of this paper is to present the different types of mining tools recovered but the restrictions regarding to the size of this publication does not allow extensive discussion. This will be published later on together with the results of radiocarbon dating of some of these objects that we were allowed to sample.

Wooden supports

The most common find from the ancient mines were the wooden supports of galleries and vertical shafts. They are described in detail by Bruce and therefore will be left out of the current discussion.³⁴ These wooden supports were often impregnated by metallic copper.³⁵ Thus they were greatly cherished and collected by the modern miners who used them to produce furniture and ornaments. 

Stone hammers and iron picks

The most characteristic mining tool from prehistoric mines is the grooved hammer. According to Rickard: “Mr Gunther had found six stone hammers of crude form, and a stone axe, all of these having been made of boulders gathered in the river below”.³⁶ In his paper, Bruce mentions that stone hammers were also found in other mines such as Sha and Mitsero.³⁷ A stone pick was recently recovered during works by the Hellenic Copper Mines company at Skouriotissa but its context was not recorded³⁸ (fig. 2a). A grooved hammer was found at the Mathiatis mine and is illustrated in a photograph published by Bruce.³⁹ Research in the National Archives of the Republic of Cyprus revealed a letter sent by Bruce to the then director of the Department of Antiquities, A.H.S. Megaw, requesting the export of the stone hammer together with an iron gad or moil also depicted in the same photograph.⁴⁰ The permission was given, but only after a plaster copy of the stone hammer was made.⁴¹ This is still available for study at the Cyprus Museum (fig. 2b). Such grooved hammers are known from all over Europe.⁴² The discovery of the mummy of a miner in the copper mine of Chuquicamata, Chile, usually referred to as the “Copper man”, and his tools which included grooved hammers, as well as other such hammers found in the same mine, have offered a rare view of how these hammers would have been hafted.⁴³ while experimental archaeology has shown how these may have been used.⁴⁴

The iron pick is one of several iron tools that were found in the CMC mines.⁴⁵ It is currently in the collection of Cypriot Antiquities of Harvey Mudd College which has recently been donated to the University of Cyprus⁴⁶ (fig. 2c). Other examples were given to the Department of Antiquities in 1976. One is a large iron pick,⁴⁷ weighing 3.5 kg and measuring 29 cm in length (fig. 2d). It also has a circular perforation but it is longer and heavier. According to the list of artefacts produced in 1951 this was also found in Mathiatis.⁴⁸ The smaller one⁴⁹ is 14 cm long and weighs 677 g. It was found in Skouriotissa mine in a surprisingly good condition because according to Bruce it was embedded in iron sulphates, which protected it⁵⁰ (fig. 2e). This is a gad rather than a pick, namely a tool that was intended to be struck by a hammer in order to break the ore.⁵¹ Similar tools are known from Thasos⁵² and the mine of La Loba, Spain.⁵³ The iron picks are very similar to examples from Thasos,⁵⁴ Rio Tinto,⁵⁵ from the mines of Sierra de Cartagena⁵⁶ and Tresminas.⁵⁷ At Skouriotissa was also found a fragmentary iron hoe or rake⁵⁸ which presumably would have been similar to a much better preserved example from Rio Tinto.⁵⁹ Comparable iron tools are described and depicted by Agricola.⁶⁰

Monoxyle/notched/chicken ladders

In his paper, Bruce mentions the discovery of several monoxyle ladders carved out of single logs of wood which he calls chicken ladders. Two were found at Mavrovouni mine (fig. 3a). They were of a type used in vertical raises, as their steps were perpendicular to the long axis of the piece of timber⁶¹ (fig. 3b). Two more were found at Skouriotissa mine but their steps were inclined (fig. 3c). According to Bruce this shows that the ladder would have to be used at an angle of 30^o degrees from the vertical.⁶² Unfortunately, it is not known what happened to these ladders – they were not recorded in the 1951 list of artefacts in the offices of CMC and they were not among the finds returned to the Department of Antiquities in 1976. Fortunately, Bruce published some photographs, which I located in D.M. Creveling’s archive and I reproduce here (fig. 3).

Creveling commented that “these ladders would be pretty hazardous even when using both hands, and would be even more difficult when trying to carry something”.⁶³ Nevertheless, monoxyle ladders were commonly used in ancient mines. According to O’Brien, such notched ladders are known from the Mitterberg mines, Chinflon and Derrycarhoon.⁶⁴ An example was also found in Coto Fortuna, Mazarrón⁶⁵ and at the mine of Aljustrel.⁶⁶ More than a dozen well preserved monoxyle ladders were found in the gold mine of Rosia Montana.⁶⁷ Finally, such ladders are also depicted in Japanese scrolls that show miners working at the gold mine of Sado.⁶⁸

Wooden shovels

Charalambides donated two wooden shovels⁶⁹ to the Department of Antiquities, which presumably he had found in the mine of Kambia (fig. 4). They are both carved out of a single piece of wood. Wooden shovels have been found in mining regions all over the world such as Laurion,⁷⁰ the Mitterberg mines,⁷¹ Aljustrel,⁷² Alderley Edge⁷³ and Mount Gabriel.⁷⁴ A wooden shovel was among the tool kit of miners from Chuquicamata, and similar shovels have also been found in other mines in Chile.⁷⁵

Baskets, wooden handles and ropes

The ore would have been carried to the surface in baskets (fig. 4). Several baskets were discovered in the mines of Mavrovouni, Skouriotissa and Mathiatis.⁷⁶ A basket⁷⁷ filled with ore was given to the Department of Antiquities by the Hellenic Mining Corporation (HMC) and may be the one listed by Manglis (who worked for HMC) among the finds found in their mines.⁷⁸ Two more baskets⁷⁹ were donated by Charalambides and presumably come from the mine of Kambia. In an unpublished report⁸⁰ George Chrysostomou, who used to work for CMC, includes a photograph of a basket that was found in Apliki mine but its current whereabouts are unknown. Finally, Zwicker includes a basket that was found in Limni mine among several finds which he had radiocarbon dated.⁸¹ The basket was found to date to 275 ±60 AD.⁸² At least two examples are still filled with copper ore. Most examples preserve only the lower part of the basket. They are made out of thin branches of bushes or trees and are woven just like baskets found in local markets today. Traditionally these baskets are made with thin branches from the terebinth tree (Pistacia terebinthus), the mastic tree (Pistacia lentiscus), the mulberry tree (Morus Alba), the wicker tree (Vitex agnus castus) or the myrtle (Myrtus Communis).⁸³

Baskets were of course essential parts of the miner’s toolkit all over the world. A well-preserved basket filled with ore was found in Mazarrón.⁸⁴ Remains of a basket may have been found in Cwmystwyth.⁸⁵ The “Copper man” from Chuquicamata also had baskets and more examples were found in other mines of Chile.⁸⁶ Finally, baskets are depicted in one of the pinakes from Penteskouphia, Corinth that shows men digging for clay (rather than mining as had been interpreted in the past).⁸⁷ The use of baskets in the mines is clearly diachronic and it is not surprising that they are included in the miner’s toolkit presented by Agricola.⁸⁸

Three notched wooden sticks⁸⁹ are among the artefacts from the CMC collection and are probably those listed as coming from the mine of Mathiatis in 1951⁴⁸ (fig. 4). One more⁹⁰ was among the finds in the Charalambides collection. Finally, one example is known from the private collection of Angelos Tsirides⁹¹. They must have been handles for the baskets as they are very similar to the handle of an esparto-grass bucket from Aljustrel.⁹²

Several pieces of rope of different widths were found in Mavrovouni mine⁹³ (fig. 4). One of the pieces was 4,5 m long and was made of three twisted strands.⁶³ In his unpublished report, Chrysostomou states about the discovery of a rope measuring 6 m in length, 20 mm in diameter, which  was knotted at about 30 cm intervals. He argues that the rope was probably used as a handhold by miners for climbing in and out of the mine shaft. Several pieces of rope from the CMC collection were given to the Department of Antiquities.⁹⁴ Pieces of rope were also among the finds of Mr Charalambides collection.⁹⁵ Two of them⁹⁶ are knotted and the others range in length from 24 cm to 5 cm. Finally, there is a rope from the HMC collection (HMC 11). 

The ropes would have been used together with the baskets and windlasses or pulleys, examples of which have also been found, to bring the ore to the surface. Ropes were found in Mazarrón and one example depicted in Gossé’s paper appears to have knots.⁹⁷

Windlasses and pulleys

A well preserved wooden windlass was found in Mavrovouni mine.⁹⁸ According to Creveling this was found inside a cribbed raise in association with a considerable amount of well-preserved rope. Such a set up is illustrated by Agricola, although in his case the windlass is on the surface⁹⁹. Based on the size of the windlass, Creveling calculated that it would have been used to hoist something over a distance of only 4,5-4,8 m.¹⁰⁰ A similar windlass.¹⁰¹ was donated to the Department of Antiquities by CMC and must be the one included in the 1951 list and described as coming from Mathiatis⁴⁸ (fig. 4). According to George Chrysostomou other windlasses that measured 60 cm in length and 25 cm in diameter at the centre were found in the mines of CMC but they are not included in the CMC collection and I have not been able to find any photos. Among the artefacts donated by Charalambides, there are two windlasses. One has a preserved length of 55 cm¹⁰² and the other has a preserved length of 57cm and bears a square perforation¹⁰³ (fig. 4). Another fragmentary windlass¹⁰⁴ is among the finds of HMC. It has a preserved length of 41 cm. All three are more similar in shape to windlasses illustrated by Agricola.¹⁰⁵

Wooden windlasses are known from the mines of Cartagena,¹⁰⁶ Algares,¹⁰⁷ and Aljustrel¹⁰⁸ where pulleys¹⁰⁹ have also been found.

Wooden troughs

A piece of trough or launder was found in Mavrovouni mine.⁹⁸ This was found in the underground in the 400 level of the mine where the windlass was also found. It was made of a single rounded timber of about 9 cm diameter where a v-shaped cavity was carved of just a few centimetres depth. The preserved length was about 65 cm.¹¹⁰ It is not among the finds that were given to the Department of Antiquities. The collection of the Department of Antiquities, however, includes a wooden trough of 102 cm length that was found in one of the mines of HMC.¹¹¹ Unfortunately, this has now deteriorated completely.

Troughs were probably used to control the flow and drain the mine water. In the case of Cyprus, we know that this water was valuable and was collected in amphorae and was then left to evaporate in square ceramic basins or troughs so that the copper sulphate salts could be collected and used for the preparation of medicaments. This is what Galen was looking for when he visited the mines of Soloi. He describes the process in great detail.¹¹²

Wooden troughs are known from other mines around Europe. Some of them were used for water management and draining, like the examples from Copa Hill, Cwmystwyth dating to 1800 BC,¹¹³ Aljustrel¹¹⁴ and Mitterberg.¹¹⁵ In other mines, such as at Mauk in Austria, wooden troughs dating to the 9th c. BC were used for ore beneficiation.¹¹⁶

Plates, bowls and lamps

A rather astounding group of finds from the Cypriot mines are the wooden bowls of different shapes and sizes (fig. 5). They were found in the mines of CMC,¹¹⁷ the mines of HMC¹¹⁸ and the mine of Kambia.¹¹⁹ They act as reminders that the miners spent a long time underground and would have had their meals there. In fact, there is evidence that in some mines they actually lived underground. In a paper discussing the mines in the area of Cassandra, Chalkidiki, Greece, Sagui states: 

Their subterranean abodes are still visible; large abandoned stopes were utilized as kitchens and sleeping chambers, where traces remain of fire places, and holes still open in the country rock were used as cupboards or lamp niches. Rough drawings are sometimes found, among which large suns are frequent, as if those laborers had desired to recall to their imprisoned bodies that the soul at least was always free and might, after all, remember that the real sun was shining somewhere.¹²⁰

We know very little about the ancient Cypriot miners, but based on Galen’s descriptions, at least in the Roman period, they were slaves. Like in other mines these slaves worked under difficult conditions, Galen describes the stifling air underground. He also says that some slaves had lost their lives in the mine when the galleries they were working on caved in.¹²¹

Ceramic lamps provided light in the underground galleries. Galen states that there were lamps in regular intervals on both sides of the wall in the inclined adit he used to enter the mine he visited.¹²² Such a set up was observed when ancient galleries were discovered in the 20th c. AD. According to Bruce: 

Rough steps have been cut in many of the inclines and many galleries have small recesses cut on one or both sides at the elevation of the waist line of a man of average height. These usually consist of a relatively flat shelf with sides and roof of recess sloping downward to the shelf from the wall of the gallery. The shelves usually occur at intervals of 5 or 6 feet along the gallery and it is assumed that they were used for support of small lamps as driving of the gallery progressed.¹²³

Ceramic lamps are among the finds that were given by CMC and HMC to the Department of Antiquities but it is impossible to know whether they were collected in the mine such as those mentioned by Bruce¹²⁴ or whether they come from tombs that were found in the region around the mine.

Conclusions

Thanks to mining engineers such as J.L. Bruce and D.M. Creveling who worked for the Cyprus Mines Corporation, C.P. Manglis who worked for Hellenic Mining Corporation and Nikos Charalambides who owned Kambia Mines, ancient mining tools found in the copper mines of Cyprus were collected and preserved. Without their foresight, these would have been lost forever and our knowledge of the ancient mining would have been extremely limited. The objects from these three collections include artefacts which are made of wood and other organic materials which in itself is extraordinary, as such finds do not survive in other Cypriot archaeological sites. The study of this rich assemblage showed that they are similar to finds from ancient mines in Europe and beyond, from as far away as Chile and Japan, revealing that there is a convergence in the materiality of the ancient mining. 

Acknowledgments

It is a pleasure to contribute to this festschrift in honour of Béatrice Cauuet. Although we have not (yet?) had the opportunity to collaborate, I have known and admired her work for years. She has made a significant contribution to mining archaeology and this is a fitting tribute to her. May she continue to work and reveal the secrets of ancient mines in the years to come. The research presented here was undertaken within the framework of the project entitled “Skouriotissa: interdisciplinary study of the archaeology and environment of Cyprus’ last operating copper mine” that was funded by a University of Cyprus A.G. Leventis Foundation Research Grant. I would like to thank the Director of the Department of Antiquities Dr Marina Solomidou Ieronymidou for granting me permission to study this material. Archaeological officer Eutychia Zachariou and technician Chrysanthos Chrysanthou made the study possible even in the difficult times of the Covid-19 pandemic when significant and varied restrictions were in place. I thank them both sincerely.

Bibliography

• Allan, J. C. (1970): Considerations on the Antiquity of Mining in the Iberian Peninsula, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Occasional Paper27, London.
• Bird, J. (1979): “The ‘Copper man’: a prehistoric miner and his tools from northern Chile”, in: Benson, E. ed.: Precolumbian Metallurgy of South America, Washington, 105-132.
• Bourgarit, D. (2019): “Mineralogy of slags: a key approach for our understanding of ancient copper smelting processes”, EMU Notes in Mineralogy, 20.5, 203–231. DOI: 10.1180/EMU-notes.20.5
• Bruce, J. L. (1937): “Appendix V. Antiquities in the mines of Cyprus”, in: Gjerstad, E., Lindros, J., Sjoqvist, E., Westholm, A. ed.: The Swedish Cyprus Expedition. Finds and Results of the Excavations in Cyprus 1927-1931. Vol III, Stockholm, 639–671.
• Cauuet, B. (2014): “Gold and silver extraction in Alburnus Maior mines, Roman Dacia (Rosia Montana, Romania). Dynamics of exploitation and management of the mining space”, in: Fontes, L. ed.: Paisagens Mineiras Antigas na Europa Ocidental. Investigação e Valorização Cultural, Boticas, 81-104.
• Constantinou, G. (1992a): “Ancient copper mining in Cyprus”, in: Marangou, A., Psillides, K. ed., Cyprus Copper and the Sea, Nicosia, 44–75.
• Constantinou, G. (1992b): “The mining industry of Cyprus in modern times”, in Marangou, A., Psillides, K. ed.: Cyprus Copper and the Sea, Nicosia, 328–367.
• Craddock, P. T. (2015): Early Metal Mining and Production, Edinburgh.
• Cullis, C. G. , Edge, A. B. (1927): Report on the Cupriferous Deposits of Cyprus, London.
• Dikaios, P. (1946) “A new chapter in the long island history of Cyprus: wartime discoveries of the earliest copper age”, Illustrated London News, 208 (5576), 244-245.
• Domergue, C. (1983): “La mine antique d’Aljustrel (Portugal) et les tables de bronze de Vipasca”, Conimbriga, 22, 5-193.
• Domergue, C. (1990): Les mines de la Péninsule Ibérique dans l’antiquité romaine,Publications de l’École française de Rome127(1), Rome.
• Du Plat Taylor, J. (1952): “A Late Bronze Age settlement at Apliki, Cyprus”, The Antiquaries Journal, 32, 133–167.
• Gale, N. H. (1999): “Lead isotope characterization of the ore deposits of Cyprus and Sardinia and its application to the discovery of the sources of copper for Late Bronze Age oxhide ingots”, in: Young, S. M. M., Pollard, A. M., Budd, P., Ixer, R. A. ed.: Metals in Antiquity, BAR Int. Ser.792, Oxford, 100–121.
• Figueroa, V., Salazar, D., Salinas, H., Núñez-Regueiro, P., Manríquez, G. (2013): Pre-hispanic mining ergology of northern Chile: an archaeological perspective. Chungara, Revista de Antropología Chilena, 45(1), 61-81.
• Georgakopoulou, M., Kassianidou, V. (2013): “Archaeometallurgical finds and analytical results”, in: Given, M., Knapp, A. B., Sollars, L., Noller, J., Kassianidou, V. ed.: Landscape and Interaction. The Troodos Archaeological & Environmental Survey Project, Cyprus. Volume 1 Methodology, Analysis and Interpretation, Levant Supplementary Series Volume 14, Oxford and Oakville, 237–252.
• Healy, J. F. (1978): Mining and metallurgy in the Greek and Roman World, London.
• Healy, J. F. (1993): Miniere e metallurgia nel mondo Greco e Romano, Roma.
• Hill, G. (1940): A History of Cyprus. Volume I: To the Conquest by Richard the Lionheart, Cambridge.
• Hoover H. C., Hoover, L. H. (1950): Georgius Agricola. De Re Metallica, New York.
• Iacovou, M. (2014): “Chapter 53. Cyprus during the Iron Age through the Persian period”, in: Steiner, M. L., Killebrew, A. E. ed.: Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant (ca. 8000 – 332 BCE), Oxford, 795-824.
• Ionas, I. (2001): “Traditional crafts in Cyprus”, Publications of the Cyprus Research Centre XXXVII, 487-497.
• Kassianidou, V. (2000): “Hellenistic and Roman mining in Cyprus”, in: Ioannides, G. K., Hadjistyllis, S. A. ed.: Acts of the Third International Congress of Cypriot Studies (Nicosia, 16-20 April 1996). Volume A Ancient Section, Nicosia, 745-756.
• Kassianidou, V. (2007): “Ground stone tools from Apliki Karamallos”, in: Kling, B., Muhly, J. D. ed.: Joan du Plat Taylor´s Excavations at the Late Bronze Age Mining Settlement at Apliki Karamallos, Cyprus, SIMA 94:1, Sävedalen, 277-306.
• Kassianidou, V. (2008-2012): “Oxhide ingots and Cyprus – the story so far”, Cyprus Numismatic Society’s “Numismatic Report”, ΧΧΧΙΧ–ΧLIII, 9-54.
• Kassianidou, V. (2011): “Objects found in a copper mine”, in: Karageorghis, V., Cypriote and other antiquities in the collection of Angelos and Emily Tsirides, Nicosia, 193–195.
• Kassianidou, V. (2013a): “The production and trade of Cypriot copper in the Late Bronze Age. An analysis of the evidence”, Pasiphae. Rivista de Filologia a Antichità Egee, 7, 133-146.
• Kassianidou, V. (2013b): “The exploitation of the landscape: metal resources and the copper trade during the age of the Cypriot city-kingdoms”, Bulletin of the American School of Oriental Research, 370, 49-82. https://doi.org/10.5615/bullamerschoorie.370.0049
• Kassianidou, V. (2013c): “Ancient and modern copper production at Skouriotissa Vouppes”, in: Given, M., Knapp, A. B., Sollars, L., Noller, J., Kassianidou, V. ed.: Landscape and Interaction. The Troodos Archaeological & Environmental Survey Project, Cyprus. Volume 2 The TAESP Landscape. Levant Supplementary Series 15, Oxford and Oakville, 114-138.
• Kassianidou, V. (2016): “Metallurgy and metalwork in Enkomi – Revisiting Porphyrios Dikaios’ excavations”, in: Bourogiannis, G., Muhlenbock, C. ed.: Ancient Cyprus Today: Museum Collections and New Research, SIMA Pocketbook 184, Uppsala, 79-90.
• Kassianidou, V. (2018a): “Apliki Karamallos on Cyprus: the 13^th century BCE miners’ settlement in context”, in: Ben Yosef, E. ed.: Mining for Ancient Copper. Essays in Memory of Beno Rothenberg, Tel Aviv University – Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology Monograph Series 37, Tel Aviv, 345-356.
• Kassianidou, V. (2018b): “Ancient copper mining, oxhide ingots and a hoard-new data on Mathiatis from the State Archives of Cyprus”, in: Giumlia-Mair, A., Lo Schiavo, F. ed.: Bronze Age Metallurgy in the Mediterranean Islands. In Honour of Robert Maddin and Vassos Karageorghis, Monographies Instrumentum 56, Auteuil, 578-598.
• Kassianidou, V. (2021): “Skouriotissa: interdisciplinary study of the archaeology and environment of Cyprus’ last operating copper mine”, in: Diakidoy, I. A. ed.: The A. G. Leventis Research Projects 2000 – 2020. 20 years of research at the University of Cyprus, Nicosia, 93-112.
• Kassianidou, V. (2022): “Mining and smelting copper in Cyprus in Late Antiquity”, in: Panayides, P., Jacobs, I. ed.: Cyprus in the Long Late Antiquity: History and Archaeology Between the Sixth and Eighth Centuries, Oxford. 211-225.
• Kassianidou, V., Agapiou, A., Manning, S. W. (2021): “Reconstructing an ancient mining landscape: a multidisciplinary approach to copper mining at Skouriotissa, Cyprus”, Antiquity, 95 (382), 1-19. doi: 10.15184/aqy.2021.33.
• Knapp A.B. (2011): “Cyprus, copper and Alashiya”, in: Betancourt, P. P., Ferrence, S. C. ed., Metallurgy: Understanding How, Learning Why. Studies in Honor of James D. Muhly, Prehistory Monographs 29, Philadelphia, 249-254.
• Knapp, A. B., Kassianidou, V. (2008): “The archaeology of Late Bronze Age copper production. Politiko Phorades on Cyprus”, in: Yalçin, Ü. ed.: Anatolian Metal IV, Der Anschnitt Beiheft 21, Bochum, 135-147.
• Koucky, F.L., Steinberg, A. (1982): “Ancient mining and mineral dressing on Cyprus”, in: Wertime, T. A., Wertime, S. F. ed.: Early Pyrotechnology: The Evolution of the First Fire Using Industries, Washington D.C., 149-180.
• Lavender, D. S. (1962): The story of Cyprus Mines Corporation, Los Angeles.
• Mathias, R. (2013): “Picture scrolls as a historical source on Japanese mining”, in: Kim, N., Nagase-Reimer, K. ed.: Mining, monies, and culture in early modern societies: East Asian and global perspectives, Leiden, 291-310.
• Merrillees R. S. (1984): “Ambelikou Aletri: A preliminary report”, Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, 1-13.
• Michaelides, D. (2011): “Medicine in ancient Cyprus”, in: Rossetto, M., Tsianikas, M., Couvalis, G., Palaktsoglou, M. ed.: Greek Research in Australia: Proceedings of the Eighth Biennial International Conference of Greek Studies, Flinders University June 2009, Adelaide, 93-106.
• Michaelidou-Nicolaou, I. (1976): Prosopography of Ptolemaic Cyprus, SIMA 44, Gothenburg.
• Muhly, J. D. 1989: “The organisation of the copper industry in Late Bronze Age Cyprus”, in: Peltenburg, E. ed.: Early Society in Cyprus, Edinburgh, 298-314.
• O’Brien, W. (2015): Prehistoric Copper Mining in Europe 5500-500 BC, Oxford.
• Orejas, A., Antolinos, J. A. (1999): “Les mines de la Sierra de Cartagena”, in: Orejas, A. ed.: Atlas historique des zones minières d’Europe, Bruxelles, Dossier II 1A-6B.
• Pittioni, R. (1951): “Prehistoric copper mining in Austria”, Seventh Annual Report, Institute of Archaeology, London University, London, 16-43.
• Rickard, T.A. (1930): “Copper mining in Cyprus”, Transactions of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 39, 285- 301.
• Rothenberg, B., Blanco Freijeiro, A. (1981): Studies in Ancient Mining and Metallurgy in South-West Spain: Explorations and Excavations in the Province of Huelva (Vol. 1), London.
• Sagui (1928): “The ancient mining works of Cassandra, Greece”, Economic Geology, 23, 671-680.
• Schibler, J., Breitenlechner, E., Deschler-Erb, S., Goldenberg,G., Hanke,K., Hiebel, G., Hüster, H., Plogmann, H., Nicolussi, K., Marti-Grädel, E., Pichler, S., Schmidl, A., Schwarz, S., Stopp, B., Oeggl K. (2011): “Miners and mining in the Late Bronze Age: a multidisciplinary study from Austria”, Antiquity, 85 (330), 1259-1278 doi: 10.1017/S0003598X00062049.
• Smith, A. D., Green, D. I., Charnock, J. M., Pantos, E., Timberlake, S., Prag, A. J. N. W. (2011): “Natural preservation mechanisms at play in a Bronze Age wooden shovel found in the copper mines of Alderley Edge”, Journal of Archaeological Science, 38(11), 3029-3037.
• Socratous, M. A., Kassianidou V., Di Pasquale, G. (2015): “Ancient slag heaps in Cyprus: the contribution of charcoal analysis to the study of the ancient copper industry”, in: Hauptmann, A., Modarressi-Tehrani, D. ed.: Archaeometallurgy in Europe III, Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum, June 29–July 1, 2011, Der Anschnitt Beiheft 26, Bochum, 377-384.
• Stylianou P.J. (1992): “The age of the kingdoms. A political history of Cyprus in the Archaic and Classical Periods” in: Travaux et Mémoires II, Nicosia, 375-530.
• Timberlake, S., Craddock, B. (2013): “Prehistoric metal mining in Britain: the study of cobble stone mining tools based on artefact study, ethnography and experimentation”, Chungara, Revista de Antropología Chilena, 45.1, 33-59.
• Wahl-Clerici, R. (2020): Roman Gold from Tresminas (Portugal). Prospection-Mining-Treatment, Beiträge zur Technikgeschichte Band 3.1, Bern.
• Wallace, P.W., Orphanides, A.G. (1990): Sources for the History of Cyprus. Volume I: Greek and Latin Texts to the Third Century A.D., Albany.
• Walsh, J. (1927): “Galen visits the Dead Sea and the copper mines of Cyprus”, The Bulletin of the Geographical Society of Philadelphia, 25.3, 93-110.
• Webb, J. M. (2015): “Identifying stone tools used in mining, smelting, and casting in Middle Bronze Age Cyprus”, Journal of Field Archaeology, 40, 22-36.
• Webb J.M., Frankel D. (2013): Ambelikou Aletri. Metallurgy and Pottery Production in Middle Bronze Age Cyprus, SIMA 138, Uppsala.
• Weisgerber, G. (1982): “Towards a history of copper mining in Cyprus and the Near East: Possibilities of mining archaeology”, in: Muhly, J. D., Maddin, R., Karageorghis, V. ed.: Early Metallurgy in Cyprus 4000 – 500 BC, Larnaca, 25-32.

Notes

1. Constantinou 1992a, 52; 1992b, 329.
2. Knapp 2011, 250.
3. Merrillees 1984, 6-10; Webb & Frankel 2013, 25-28.
4. Webb & Frankel 2013, 25-28 ; Webb 2015, 25.
5. Webb 2015, 34.
6. Kassianidou 2013a. 
7. Knapp & Kassianidou 2008.
8. Muhly 1989; Kassianidou 2013a; 2016.
9. Kassianidou 2008-2012, 9. 
10. Gale 1999, 120.
11. Du Plat Taylor 1952; Kling & Muhly 2007; Kassianidou 2018a.
12. Kassianidou 2007, 280, Plate 76.
13. Stylianou 1992, 382-383, 388; Iacovou 2014, 805-807.
14. Kassianidou 2013b, 71.
15. Kassianidou 2013b, 69.
16. Hill 1940, 148-156.
17. Michaelidou-Nicolaou 1976, 101.
18. Hill 1940, 230.
19. Kassianidou 2000, 752-753.
20. Michaelides 2011, 94.
21. Walsh 1927, 101-105; Kassianidou 2000, 748.
22. Kassianidou 2013c, 120-130.
23. Kassianidou 2013c, 133; Socratous et al. 2015, 382.
24. Kassianidou et al. 2021.
25. Kassianidou 2022, 218-219.
26. Cullis & Edge 1927, 46.
27. Rickard 1930, 287; Lavender 1962, 46-49.
28. For the history of CMC see Lavender 1962.
29. Constantinou 1992b, 341-342.
30. Constantinou 1992b: 342-345.
31. e.g. Koucky & Steinberg 1982; Weisgerber 1982; Constantinou 1992a; Kassianidou 2000.
32. Kassianidou 2021.
33. Kassianidou 2018b, 586-588.
34. Bruce 1937 653-657.
35. Bruce 1937, 650.
36. Rickard 1930, 290.
37. Bruce 1937, 660-661, fig. 362.
38. Georgakopoulou & Kassianidou 2013, 241, fig. 3.20.
39. Bruce 1937, 665, fig. 374.
40. Kassianidou 2018b, 591-594.
41. Inv. 1936-VII-17/1.
42. See examples in Rothenberg & Blanco Freijero 1981, 165, fig. 70, fig. 71, fig. 75, fig. 76, fig. 80; Domergue 1990, Pl. XV; O’ Brien 2015, 192, fig. 7.20, 207, fig. 8.5.
43. Bird 1979, 114, fig. 4. Figueroa et al. 2013, 71-75, fig. 7, fig. 8, fig. 10.
44. Timberlake & Craddock 2013, 50-52.
45. Bruce 1937, 662.
46. Kassianidou 2021, 101.
47. Inv. 1976-I-20/41.
48. Kassianidou 2018b, 587.
49. Inv. 1976-I-20/37.
50. Bruce 1937, 662, fig. 365.
51. Healy 1978, 100.
52. Healy 1978, Pl. 16b.
53. Domergue 1990, Pl. XVIa and b.
54. Healy 1978, 84, Pl. 16a.
55. Healy 1978, 100, Pl.29a.
56. Domergue 1990, Pl. XXIIIb.
57. Wahl-Clerici 2020, 114, fig. 3.1 – fig. 7a-d.
58. Inv. 1976-I-20/35; Bruce 1937, 663, fig. 363.
59. Craddock 1995, 74, fig. 2.35.
60. Hoover & Hoover, 149-150.
61. Bruce 1937 658, fig. 347 – fig. 348.
62. Bruce 1937, 661-662.
63. Bruce 1937, 658.
64. O’ Brien 2015, 217.
65. Gossé 1942, 54, Lamina V 6.
66. Healy 1993, 145, fig. 58 ; Domergue 1983, 18, 37, fig. 13.
67. Cauuet 2014, 94, fig. 6.
68. Healy 1978, 83, Pl. 12 ; Healy 1993, fig. 9; Mathias 2013, 297, fig. 10.2.
69. Inv. CH3 and Inv. CH4.
70. Conophagos 1980, 177, Plate 9, Plate 10.
71. Pittioni 1951, 26, Plate IV.3, Plate VII.1.
72. Domergue 1983, 23, 37, fig. 16.
73. Smith et al. 2011, fig. 1.
74. O’Brien 2015, 209, 217, fig. 8.7.
75. Figueroa et al. 2013, 67, 69, 74, Table 2, fig. 2.3, fig. 9.
76. Inv. 1976-Ι-20/57a-e ; Bruce 1937, 653, 659, 662, fig. 360, fig. 363, fig. 364.
77. Inv. HMC12.
78. Bruce 1937, 660.
79. Inv. CH18 and Inv. CH19.
80. I would like to thank Mr George Chrysostomou for giving me access to his unpublished report entitled “Ancient mineral exploration and exploitation”.
81. Zwicker 1986, 102.
82. Radiocarbon sample number H 8990-8922.
83. Ionas 2001, 488.
84. Gossé 1942, 53, Lamina IV.
85. O’Brien 2015, 217, fig. 8.14.
86. Figueroa et al 2013, 68, Table 2, fig. 2, fig. 8.
87. Healy 1978, 77, Plate 8.
88. Hoover & Hoover 1950, 153-154.
89. Inv. 1976-20-I/16a, Inv. 1976-20-I/16b and Inv. 1976-20-I/17.
90. Inv. CH9.
91. Kassianidou 2011, 194. 
92. Gossé 1942, Lamina VI ; Healy 1978, 101, fig. 32c.
93. Bruce 1937, 653, fig. 352.
94. Inv. 1976-I-20/11a, Inv. 1976-I-20/11b, Inv. 1976-I-20/58.
95. Inv. CH20, Inv. CH21, Inv. CH 22, Inv. CH23, Inv. CH24, Inv. CH25.
96. Inv. CH20 and Inv. CH21.
97. Gossé 1942, 55, 57, Lamina III.
98. Bruce 1937, 653.
99. Hoover & Hoover 1950, 123.
100. Bruce 1937, 658, fig. 351, fig. 352.
101. Inv. 1976-20-/19.
102. Inv. CH2.
103. Inv. CH16.
104. Inv. HMC33.
105. Hoover & Hoover 1950, 161.
106. Orejas & Antolinos 1999, Dossier II 2B.
107. Domergue 1983, 14, 37, fig. 33.
108. Allan 1970, 15.
109. Healy 1978, Pl. 33a, Pl. 33b ; Domergue 1983, 15, 37, fig, 14.
110. Bruce 1937, 658-659, fig. 353.
111. Inv. HMC42.
112. De Temp. Fac. Simp. Med. 9 – Wallace & Orphanides 1990, 227.
113. Timberlake & Craddock 2013, 35-36, fig. 3; O’Brien 2015, 220, fig. 8.17.
114. Domergue 1983, 23, fig. 13.
115. Pittioni 1951, 27, Plate IV.1.
116. Schibler et al. 2011, 1262, fig. 4; O’ Brien 2015, 180, fig. 7.13.
117. Inv. 1976-I-20/12 and Inv. 1976-I-20/15.
118. Inv. HMC 39+40.
119. Inv. CH14.
120. Sagui 1928, 675.
121. Wallace & Orphanides 1990, 227.
122. De Temp. Fac. Simp. Med. 9; Wallace & Orphanides 1990, 227.
123. Bruce 1937, 649.
124. Bruce 1937, 653, 660, 663.