Kissonerga-Skalia: the Early and Middle Bronze Age as one unit

The explanations distinguish finds, interpretations and open questions. Sources appear at the end of the page.

What the Department of Antiquities says

According to the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus page on the Paphos museum, the museum treats the Early and Middle Bronze Age as one unit, 2500-1650 BCE, and represents it with finds from the settlement at Kissonerga-Skalia and from the cemeteries. The details cited here do not name the cemeteries or list the finds. Source 1.

One unit, two periods

In the Department of Antiquities' own chronological table, 2500-1650 BCE is two periods: the Early Bronze Age, 2500-2000 BCE, and the Middle Bronze Age, 2000-1650 BCE. The museum's unit is exactly their sum, and its start and end are those of the table. The Met's timeline cuts the same centuries differently: Early Bronze Age about 2500-1900 BCE, Middle Bronze Age about 1900-1600 BCE. These are three ways of dividing the same span of time. Sources 1, 2, 3, 4.

Why the article is on two pages

Since the source does not separate the periods, placing the article in the Early Bronze Age alone would be more certain than the source itself. The article is therefore placed in both the Early and the Middle Bronze Age, the two periods that make up the museum's frame, and it does not decide which finds belong to which. Source 1.

What the source does not say

The question of what changed in the copper economy in the Early Bronze Age cannot be answered from this source: as cited here, it says nothing about copper, metalworking or trade, nor about the size or plan of the settlement at Kissonerga-Skalia or the number of tombs. An answer would need excavation reports and analyses of metal finds, none of which were read. This page documents only what the museum does with the finds: it presents them as evidence for two periods together.

Scope of reading: the Department of Antiquities pages cited here could not be opened for checking on 24 October 2026; the details from them follow notes taken from those pages at an earlier stage and were not re-checked. The two Met timeline pages, for 8000-2000 BCE and for 2000-1000 BCE, were read on 24 October 2026. The excavation reports of Kissonerga-Skalia were not read, so this page gives no levels, tombs or list of finds.