Finds show Cypriot city was a key trading hub

New discoveries including gold ornaments and fine pottery at an ancient port city in Cyprus dating back more than 3,000 years indicate that the settlement was one of the Mediterranean's most important trading posts in the late Bronze Age, an archeologist said on July 11.

Professor Peter M. Fischer from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, said the city now known as Hala Sultan Tekke because of its proximity to a famous mosque flourished in 1,630-1,150 B.C. because of its trade in the "most sought after product at that time" - plentiful copper mined from the Troodos mountain range. Some theorize that Cyprus got its name from copper because of its ancient trade in the metal.

Fischer told The Associated Press that along with Mycenaean pottery, the Cypriot variety was "the most popular on the 'intercultural' market" of the time, reaching as far as modern-day Spain, Iraq, Türkiye and Sudan.

Fischer, who concluded excavations at the site this year, said evidence now suggests "the great importance" of the ancient city, rivaling the majesty of Enkomi, considered the most important Bronze Age Cypriot city because of its unique layout.

He suggested that more fascinating discoveries could be in store at the Hala Sultan Tekke site because "maybe only 10 percent" has been exposed, with recent georadar and magnetometer surveys showing large building complexes 1-2 meters below the surface.

"The numerous finds of gold, most likely imported from Egypt but showing mainly Minoan motifs, demonstrate that the Egyptians received copper in exchange and that the contact with the Minoan-Mycenaean cultures was intense," Fischer said in an email.

Maria Iakovou, a professor of archaeology at the University of Cyprus who was not involved in the...