Making an Impression

Storage and Surplus Finance in Late Bronze Age Cyprus

Authors

  • Jennifer M. Webb University of Melbourne
  • David Frankel La Trobe University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jmea.v7i1.5

Keywords:

agriculture, storage, Cyprus

Abstract

The twofold redistribution model of staple and wealth finance, developed by D' Altroy and Earle (1985) , has recently been applied to the archaeological record of the Late Cypriot Bronze Age (Keswani 1993). This paper examines an agricultural production and storage centre of the 13th century BC at Analiondas Palioklichia within this framework. It appears to have been a support village established on the igneous-sedimentary interface to mobilize and distribute grain to the mining communities of the interior. The role of such villages in the political economy of the island, and the operational mechanisms employed by local elites within a possibly tithe- or tribute-based system of regional administration and exchange, are examined.

Author Biographies

  • Jennifer M. Webb, University of Melbourne
    Jennifer Webb is a Academic Associate of the Department of Classics and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Melbourne. She completed a dissertation on the ritual architecture and iconography of Cyprus in the Late Bronze Age for the University of Melbourne in 1988 and is Assistant Director of the Australian Cyprus expedition excavations at Marki Alonia. Broader research interests include Cypriot Bronze Age glyptic, systems of pottery production and ritual practice.
  • David Frankel, La Trobe University
    David Frankel is Reader in Archaeology at La Trobe University, Melbourne. He read archaeology at Sydney University (BA 1970 MA 1973) at Gothenburg University (PhD 1975). He was for some years in the Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities at the British Museum, before returning to Australia in 1978. Apart from Cypriot and Western Asiatic archaeology, he has research interests in pottery and trade at Papua New Guinea and in Australian hunter-gatherer prehistory. He is currently Director of the Australian Cyprus Expedition excavations at Marki Alonia.

Published

1994-06-01

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Webb, J. M., & Frankel, D. (1994). Making an Impression: Storage and Surplus Finance in Late Bronze Age Cyprus. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, 7(1), 5-26. https://doi.org/10.1558/jmea.v7i1.5