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A rather small metallurgical assemblage was found at the Late Bronze Age urban settlement of Kalavasos- Ayios Dhimitrios . By means of a detailed and comparative study of the slag assemblage, which is the largest found at any of the sites within the Kalavasos-Maroni region, we aim to reconstruct the technological process involved in copper production at the site and enlighten the role copper may have played within the Late Cypriot societies of south-central Cyprus. The presence of both tap and furnace slag, resulting from two diverse processes with seemingly variable degrees of technical efficiency in metal extraction, leads us to reflect on the complexity of sulphide ore smelting.

Cyprus is considered to be one of the main sources for copper for the Old World since the second millennium BC. Yet we are still far from fully understanding the dynamics, which govern the organization of copper production and distribution on the island. The discovery of a complex of workshops during the excavation of the sacred precinct at the site of Kition — Kathari located in south-east Cyprus led some scholars to suggest that copper ores were smelted in these workshops while others have more recently suggested that the workshops were dedicated to casting and recycling votive artifacts. In order to address this issue and to determine the nature of the metallurgical process taking place at Kition a collection of 57 metallurgical ceramics and crucible slags from the site dating from the 13th to the late 4th century BC, was analyzed chemically with the use of a handheld pXRF instrument. Also, the same technique was employed to distinguish the existence of different fabric groups in the assemblage.

For metallurgical processes in antiquity functional materials were required, which were sufficiently heat resistant. Commonly, ceramics were used for the production of furnaces, tuyères and crucibles. Because normal pottery usually could not withstand the extreme temperatures, which were needed for metallurgical operations, the ceramic production process had to be modified. An analytical case study will be presented on refractory ceramics from the Late Bronze Age copper smelting site Politiko- Phorades (Cyprus). Cyprus had a major role in copper production, starting from this period, and the selected site is the earliest primary smelting site discovered in Cyprus until now. Furnace and tuyère fragments were analysed chemically and mineralogically, in order to investigate ancient ceramic technology in view of heat resistance. 34 141 154 ID: 23754933143790