Ashmolean Museum: AMULET: Cypriot Copper 1

		Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology
		AMULETs
		Ancient Cyprus in the Ashmolean Museum

	Cypriot Copper: Mysteries of the Bronze Age

	The Bronze Age in Cyprus The Bronze Age refers to the period c. 3000-1100 BC, when bronze was first used to make tools and weapons.

	Aside from contemporary Egyptian texts, there is little or no documentary evidence about the Bronze Age people of Cyprus. The remains of their homes and workshops have been found. Archaeologists have recovered many of the objects that they made. All of this evidence has been studied by academics in an attempt to piece together an idea of what life in the Bronze Age might have been like. These scholars have many different opinions and explanations about Bronze Age Cyprus.	*Map of Sites in Bronze Age Cyprus*

	These pages contain images of some of the more interesting copper and bronze objects from the Bronze Age Cypriot collections in the Antiquities Department of the Ashmolean, accompanied by questions that are meant to illustrate the immense amount of knowledge that is still debated, even after three thousand years! For details of these contentious issues and the complexity of the arguments involved, please consult the sources listed, and their bibliographies.

		Introduction to the Mysteries of the Bronze Age	Next Page (What is Bronze?)
	Ancient Cyprus in the Ashmolean

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Last updated: 21-oct-2004