- Fulvia Lo Schiavo –
Figure 10.5 Bronze fi gurine from nuraghe Cabu Abbas, Olbia (Sassari) and Nuragic
necked jar with “inverted-elbow” handles from Pyla-Kokkinokremos.OXHIDE INGOTS IN THE MEDITERRANEANThe copper trade originated in the eastern Mediterranean in the kingdom of Alashjia
(generally identifi ed with Cyprus); from there the oxhide ingots were distributed to
Anatolia and Bulgarian regions along the Black Sea (Rotea 2004; Leshtakov 2007) to
Egypt and to Greece and far west to Sicily and to Sardinia (Fig. 10.6). The northernmost
discovery consists of the four fragments of at least two different oxhide ingots found in
the hoard of Oberwilfl ingen (Baden-Württemberg), in association with bronze axes with
broad edges of a transitional type of MBA/LBA date, no later than thirteenth century bc
(Primas, Pernicka 1998; Primas 2005).
In Cyprus, mining and smelting processes have been thoroughly investigated and
many achievements have been recognised, particularly on the characteristics and different
locations of the various phases of the metallurgical process, on the smelting equipment,
and on the earlier production preceding that of LC II. For the moment, no ingot
fragments dating prior to the fourteenth century bc have been found on Cyprus, where
the use of the oxhide ingot shape can be confi rmed from the fourteenth down to the end
of the twelfth century bc. Hopefully, future excavations will expand these chronological
boundaries (Kassianidou 2009: 59).
The best document of the maritime copper trade are the two wrecks of Uluburun
and Cape Gelidonya (Yalçin et al. 2005; Bass 1967), on the southern coast of Turkey,
dated respectively to the end of the fourteenth and to the fi rst half of the thirteenth
centuries bc, giving us a different picture of the situation. The fi rst wreck, which has
been well-excavated and is still under in-depth study, is a merchant ship of selected
goods that includes metal cargo, consisting of 354 copper oxhide ingots and about 100
tin ingots, intended for exchanges among dynasts; the second wreck carried copper (and