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Institute of Nautical Archaeology

In 1984, ten tons of copper “ox-hide” ingots including the one shown were discovered in a 3,300-year-old shipwreck off the coast of Uluburan, in southern Turkey. (Ten tons of copper alloyed with one ton of tin would produce 11 tons of bronze.) Lead-isotope tests conducted on the ingots suggest that the copper came from Cyprus. A number of the texts mentioning “Alashiya” record transactions involving copper, which is found in abundance on Cyprus. None of these texts, however, explicitly links Alashiya with the island we call Cyprus.