Cattle in ritual practice and iconography in Bronze Age Cyprus

Jennifer M. Webb Journal of Greek Archaeology 2 (2017): 53-80

The aim of this paper is to investigate several key symbolic elements in the material culture of Bronze Age Cyprus (c. 2450–1100 BC) and to trace their evolution from the pre-state agricultural communities of the Early and Middle Bronze Age to the complex polities of the Late Bronze Age. It will focus particularly on cattle. Images of cattle, either as whole animals or as bucrania, appear repeatedly on artefacts that played an active role in social strategies and, through repetition and refinement, served over time as a framework for the formation and reproduction of social and ritual institutions.