Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T16:44:44.220Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Opium or oil? Late Bronze Age Cypriot Base Ring juglets and international trade revisited

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2016

Shlomo Bunimovitz  and
Zvi Lederman
Shlomo Bunimovitz
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
Zvi Lederman*
Affiliation:
Tel Beth-Shemesh Excavations, Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
*
*Author for correspondence (Email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Base Ring juglets of Late Bronze Age Cyprus have long been associated with opium due to their hypothetical resemblance to inverted poppy heads. Analysis of organic residues on Base Ring juglets from Cyprus and Israel, however, showed no trace of opium; instead, the vessels had contained a variety of perfumed oils. The analytical results are supported by textual evidence attesting to a lively trade across the eastern Mediterranean in aromatic substances and compounds, rather than in opium. The poppy-head shape of the Base Ring juglets was not a reference to their contents.

Keywords

CyprusTel Beth-ShemeshLate Bronze AgeopiumoilBase Ring jugletorganic residue analysistrade
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 90 , Issue 354 , December 2016 , pp. 1552 - 1561
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beckman, G. 1996. Hittite documents from Hattusa, in Knapp, A.B. (ed.) Near Eastern and Aegean texts from the third to the first millennia BC (Sources for the History of Cyprus 2): 31–40. Altamont (NY): Greece and Cyprus Research Center.Google Scholar
Bisset, N.G., Bruhn, J.G. & Zeuk, M.H.. 1996. The presence of opium in a 3,500 year-old Cypriot Base Ring juglet. Ägypten und Levante 6: 203–204.Google Scholar
CAD (Chicago Assyrian Dictionary). 1956–2010. The Assyrian dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Chicago (IL): Oriental Institute, University of Chicago.Google Scholar
Chovanec, Z. 2013. Products of social distinction: organic residue analysis of specialized products in Bronze Age Cyprus. Unpublished PhD dissertation, State University of New York at Albany.Google Scholar
Chovanec, Z., Rafferty, S.M. & Swiny, S.. 2012. Opium for the masses: an experimental archaeological approach in determining the antiquity of the opium poppy. Journal of Ethnoarchaeology 4: 5–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/eth.2012.4.1.5 Google Scholar
Chovanec, Z., Bunimovitz, S. & Lederman, Z.. 2015. Is there opium here? Analysis of Cypriote Base Ring juglets from Tel Beth-Shemesh, Israel. Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry 15: 175–89.Google Scholar
Cochavi-Rainey, Z. 2003. The Alashia texts from the 14th and 13th centuries BCE. A textual and linguistic study. Münster: Ugarit.Google Scholar
Collard, D. 2008. Possible alternatives to alcohol: the contextual analysis of poppy-shaped jugs from Cyprus and the Aegean, in Hitchcock, L.A., Laffineur, R. & Crowly, J. (ed.) Dais: the Aegean feast (Aegaeum 29): 57–63. Leuven: Peeters.Google Scholar
Dabney, M.K. 2007. Marketing Mycenaean pottery in the Levant, in Betancourt, P.P., , M.C. Nelson & Williams, E.H. (ed.) Krinoikai Limenes: studies in honor of Joseph and Maria Shaw: 191–97. Philadelphia (PA): INSTAP.Google Scholar
Evans, J. 1989. Report, in R.S. Merrillees, Highs and lows in the Holy Land: opium in biblical times (with a report by John Evans). Eretz-Israel 20: 153–54.Google Scholar
Gittlen, B.M. 1981. The cultural and chronological implications of the Cypro-Palestinian trade during the Late Bronze Age. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 241: 49–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1356710 Google Scholar
Goren, Y., Bunimovitz, S., Finkelstein, I. & Na'aman, N.. 2003. The location of Alashiya: new evidence from petrographic investigation of Alashiyan tablets from el-Amarna and Ugarit. American Journal of Archaeology 107: 233–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.3764/aja.107.2.233 Google Scholar
Goren, Y., Bunimovitz, S., Finkelstein, I. & Na'aman, N. 2004. VI. Alashiya, in Goren, Y., Finkelstein, I. & Na'aman, N., Inscribed in clay: provenance study of the Amarna Tablets and other ancient Near Eastern texts (Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology Monograph Series 23): 48–75. Tel Aviv: Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University.Google Scholar
Grave, P., Kealhofer, L., Marsh, B., Schoop, U.-D., Seeher, J., Bennett, J.W. & Stopic, A.. 2014. Ceramic trade, provenience and geology: Cyprus in the Late Bronze Age. Antiquity 88: 1180–200. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X0011539X Google Scholar
Hulin, L. 2009. Consumption, status and Late Cypriot pottery in Egypt, in Merrillees, R.S., Michaelides, D. & Iacovou, M. (ed.) Egypt and Cyprus in antiquity: 40–47. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Karageorghis, V. 1996. Some aspects of the maritime trade of Cyprus during the Late Bronze Age, in Karageorghis, V. & Michaelides, D. (ed.) The development of the Cypriot economy from the prehistoric period to the present day: 61–70. Nicosia: University of Cyprus and the Bank of Cyprus.Google Scholar
Kelder, J.M. 2009. Royal gift exchange between Mycenae and Egypt: olives as ‘greeting gifts’ in the Late Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean. American Journal of Archaeology 113: 339–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.3764/aja.113.3.339 Google Scholar
Knapp, A.B. 1991. Spice, drugs, grain and grog: organic goods in Bronze Age East Mediterranean trade, in Gale, N.H. (ed.) Bronze Age trade in the Mediterranean (Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology 90): 21–68. Jonsered: Paul Åström.Google Scholar
Knapp, A.B. (ed.). 1996. Near Eastern and Aegean texts from the third to the first millennia BC (Sources for the History of Cyprus 2). Altamont (NY): Greece and Cyprus Research Center.Google Scholar
Knapp, A.B. 2008. Prehistoric and protohistoric Cyprus: identity, insularity and connectivity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199237371.001.0001Google Scholar
Knapp, A.B. 2011. Cyprus, copper, and Alashiya, in Betancourt, P.P. & Ferrence, S.C. (ed.) Metallurgy: understanding how, learning why: studies in honor of James D. Muhly: 249–54. Philadelphia (PA): INSTAP.10.2307/j.ctt3fgvzd.32Google Scholar
Knapp, A.B. 2013. The archaeology of Cyprus from earliest prehistory through the Bronze Age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Knappett, C., Kilikoglou, V., Steele, V. & Stern, B.. 2005. The circulation and consumption of Red Lustrous Wheelmade ware: petrographic, chemical and residue analysis. Anatolian Studies 55: 25–59.10.1017/S0066154600000648Google Scholar
Koschel, K. 1996. Opium alkaloids in a Cypriote Base Ring I vessel (bilbil) of the Middle Bronze Age from Egypt. Ägypten und Levante 6: 159–66.Google Scholar
Krikorian, A.D. 1975. Were the opium poppy and opium known in the ancient Near East? Journal of the History of Biology 8: 95–114. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00129597 Google Scholar
Kritikos, P.G. & Papadaki, S.P.. 1967. The history of the poppy and of opium and their expansion in antiquity in the eastern Mediterranean area. Bulletin on Narcotics 19: 17–38.Google Scholar
Lebrun, R. 2004. Le monde hittite et le îles de la Méditerranée orientale: le cas chypriote. Res Antiquae 1: 359–64.Google Scholar
Leonard, A. Jr. 1981. Considerations of morphological variation in the Mycenaean pottery from the southeastern Mediterranean. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 241: 87–101. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1356713 Google Scholar
Liverani, M. 1979. Irrational elements in the Amarna trade, in Liverani, M., Three Amarna essays: 21–33. Malibu (CA): Undena.Google Scholar
Maier, F.-G. 1985. Factoids in ancient history: the case of fifth-century Cyprus. Journal of Hellenic Studies 105: 32–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/631520 Google Scholar
Maier, F.-G. 1986. Kinyras and Agapenor, in Karageorghis, V. (ed.) Acts of the International Archaeological Symposium ‘Cyprus between the Orient and the Occident’, Nicosia, 8–14 September 1985: 311–18. Nicosia: Department of Antiquities, Cyprus.Google Scholar
de Martino, S. 2008. Relations between Hatti and Alašia according to textual and archaeological evidence, in Wilhelm, G. (ed.) Hattuša-Boğazköy. Das Hethiterreichim Spannungsfeld des Alten Orient (Colloquien der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 6): 247–63. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Merlin, M.D. 1984. On the trail of the ancient opium poppy. London & Toronto: Associated University Presses.Google Scholar
Merrillees, R.S. 1962. Opium trade in the Bronze Age Levant. Antiquity 36: 287–92.Google Scholar
Merrillees, R.S. 1968. The Cypriote Bronze Age pottery found in Egypt (Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology 18). Lund: Paul Åström.Google Scholar
Merrillees, R.S. 1972. Alasia, in Karageorghis, V. & Christodoulou, A. (ed.) Acts of the First International Cyprological Congress (Nicosia 14–19 April 1969): 111–19. Nicosia: Department of Antiquities, Cyprus.Google Scholar
Merrillees, R.S. 1974. Trade and transcendence in the Bronze Age Levant (Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology 39). Gothenburg: Paul Åström.Google Scholar
Merrillees, R.S. 1979. Opium again in antiquity. Levant 11: 167–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/lev.1979.11.1.167 Google Scholar
Merrillees, R.S. 1987. Alashia revisited (Cahiers de la révue Biblique 22). Paris: J. Gabalda et Cie.Google Scholar
Merrillees, R.S. 1989. Highs and lows in the Holy Land: opium in biblical times (with a report by John Evans). Eretz-Israel 20: 148–54.Google Scholar
Merrillees, R.S. 2005. Don't be fooled! Despite what many scholars say, ancient ‘Alashiya’ was not Cyprus. Archaeology Odyssey 8 (5): 35–40, 45, 50–51.Google Scholar
Merrillees, R.S. 2011. Alashiya: a scientific quest for its location, in Betancourt, P.P. & Ferrence, S.C. (ed.) Metallurgy: understanding how, learning why: studies in honor of James D. Muhly: 255–64. Philadelphia (PA): INSTAP.Google Scholar
Moran, W.L. 1992. The Amarna letters. Baltimore (MD) & London: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Muhly, J.D. 1972. The land of Alašiya: references to Alašiya in the texts of the second millennium B.C., and the history of Cyprus in the Late Bronze Age, in Karageorghis, V. & Christodoulou, A. (ed.) Acts of the First International Cyprological Congress (Nicosia 14–19 April 1969): 201–19. Nicosia: Department of Antiquities, Cyprus.Google Scholar
Muhly, J.D. 1982. The nature of trade in the Late Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean: the organization of the metals trade and the role of Cyprus, in Muhly, J.D., Maddin, R. & Karageorghis, V. (ed.) Early metallurgy in Cyprus 4000–500 BC: 251–66. Nicosia: Pierides Foundation.Google Scholar
Muhly, J.D. 1986. The role of Cyprus in the economy of the eastern Mediterranean during the second millennium B.C., in Karageorghis, V. (ed.) Acts of the International Symposium: Cyprus between the Orient and the Occident: 45–60. Nicosia: Department of Antiquities, Cyprus.Google Scholar
Muhly, J.D. 1989. The organization of the copper industry in Late Bronze Age Cyprus, in Peltenburg, E.J. (ed.) Early society in Cyprus: 298–314. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Muhly, J.D. 1996. The significance of metals in the Late Bronze Age economy of Cyprus, in Karageorghis, V. & Michaelides, D. (ed.) The development of the Cypriot economy from the prehistoric period to the present day: 45–60. Nicosia: University of Cyprus and the Bank of Cyprus.Google Scholar
Ockinga, B.G. 1996. Hieroglyphic texts from Egypt, in Knapp, A.B. (ed.) Near Eastern and Aegean texts from the third to the first millennia BC (Sources for the History of Cyprus 2): 42–50. Altamont (NY): Greece and Cyprus Research Center.Google Scholar
Papadimitriou, N. 2013. Regional or ‘international’ networks? A comparative examination of Aegean and Cypriot imported pottery in the Eastern Mediterranean. Talanta 44: 92–136.Google Scholar
Peltenburg, E. 2012. Text meets material in Late Bronze Age Cyprus, in Georgiou, A. (ed.) Cyprus: an island culture. Society and social relations from the Bronze Age to the Venetian period: 1–23. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Sherratt, A. 1991. Sacred and profane substances: the ritual use of narcotics in Later Neolithic Europe, in Garwood, P., Jennings, D., Skeates, R. & Toms, J. (ed.) Sacred and profane. Proceedings of a conference on archeology, ritual and religion. Oxford 1989 (Oxford University Committee for Archaeology Monograph 32). Oxford: Oxford University Committee for Archaeology.Google Scholar
Singer, I. & Gestoso Singer, G.. 2014. Alašian products in Hittite sources, in Csabai, Z. (ed.) Studies in economic and social history of the ancient Near East in memory of Péter Vargyas: 317–36. Budapest: L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Steel, L. 2004a. Cyprus before history: from the earliest settlers to the end of the Bronze Age. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co.Google Scholar
Steel, L. 2004b. A reappraisal of the distribution, context and function of Mycenaean pottery in Cyprus, in Balensi, J., Monchambert, J.-Y. & Möller-Celku, S. (ed.) La ceramique Mycénienne de l’Égée au Levant (Travaux de la Maison de l'Orient et de la Mediterranée 41): 69–85. Lyon: Maison de l'Orient et de la Mediterranée.Google Scholar
Steel, L. 2013. Materiality and consumption in the Bronze Age Mediterranean. New York: Routledge.10.4324/9780203110492Google Scholar
Vincentelli, I. 1976. Alašia: per una storia di Cipro nell'età del bronzo. Studi Ciprioti e Rapporti di Scavo 2: 9–49.Google Scholar