Middle and Late Bronze Age Metal Tools from the Aegean, Eastern ...

Uluburun metalworking tools may be reported in the final publication of the wreck,
which will verify whether or not a smith was on the vessel.
Two examples from Cypriot archaeology point to extensive travel by smiths.
Similarities between Cypriot and Sardinian metal objects, such as tripods, and the rich
assemblage of Cypriot copper oxhide ingots on Sardinia are difficult to explain. 247 There
is no evidence for Cypriot settlements or burials on Sardinia, but Cypriot smiths are
thought to have worked on the western island, perhaps on a seasonal basis. 248 This
hypothesis accepts that craftspersons journeyed across extraordinary distances on
multiple occasions, but represents just one explanation for the Cypriot-Sardinian
connection. A secondary case for the movement of craftspersons is a migration of metal
smiths. Iacovou has argued that Aegean metallurgists moved to Cyprus during the 12 th
and 11 th centuries as indicated by linguistic evidence. 249
There is, however, an underlying
assumption to Iacovou’s argument. The migration of an entire craft industry bespeaks of
some craft exchange leading up to the movement of a group from one region to another.
Smiths, under Iacovou’s scenario, must have migrated to Cyprus with some
foreknowledge of the island and its metal resources. The LBA international copper trade
and sea routes could have been the catalyst that informed Aegean peoples about the
Cypriot metal industry; indeed, they had probably been participating in this system for as
much as half a millennium, given the clear connections between Crete and Cyprus in the
MBA. Given this well established relationship, specialized metallurgists may have been
encouraged to move to the eastern island. Generally, the evidence for how metallurgical
work was organized—whether the craft was dependent on palatial centers—and how
247 Kassianidou 2001.
248 Lo Schiavo 2001, 137-141.
249 Iacovou 2006, 327-328.
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