La pirotecnologia nella Cipro del Medio Bronzo: la produzione ceramica di Erimi-Laonin tou Porakou ​

The primary aim of this research is to study pyrotechnological developments in the Middle Bronze Age Cypriot site of Erimi – Laonin tou Porakou. The attention has been focused on the settlement of Erimi since it is one of the few archaeological sites on the island to extensively represent the Middle Bronze Age proto-urbanisation phenomenon. The Middle Cypriot, especially in its final phase, represents a turning point in Cypriot Prehistory in terms of social organisation and economic system. Thus, it is in this chronological span that we can observe a shift from a household-based society to an urban one; the urbanisation process will be fully completed only in the Late Bronze Age. It is in this perspective of representing a socio-economical turning point that the settlement of Erimi – Laonin tou Porakou gains a major importance. Being one of the few sites documenting this fundamental transitional phase, the study of production practices, technological improvements and work strategies will support the analysis and reconstruction of socio-economic developments of Middle Bronze Age communities in Cyprus. To retrace the changes in the pyrotechnological industry it is necessary to study its main products, since the means and places of such production are not extensively preserved in the archaeological record. Specifically, in this thesis, local pottery production is considered as the key-product to research pyrotechnology. The analysis was carried out through a combination of field methods and scientific techniques, in order to obtain a comprehensive dataset of microscopical and macroscopic information. The adoption of such a multidisciplinary approach was possible only thanks to a strong cooperation between various specialists inside the Italian archaeological research team – the Erimi Archaeological Project. The main result of the research was the establishment of a firing-temperature range for each ceramic class, which, in turn, supported in reconstructing the main technological changes in pyrotechnological productions. This data is specifically important since productive developments are strictly connected to shifts in the social organisation of a community. Thus, understanding the industrial organisation was a key point in better outlining the characteristics of the society based at Erimi during the Middle Cypriot period (2000-1600 BC ca.).