Pendant

Pendant composed of twisted copper wire with a suspension loop on the top. Two large spirals are attached to its lower part and a smaller one is placed over them. The pendant bears witness to the very beginning of copper-working in Cyprus. It is made of native copper and is one of the earliest metal objects dating to the Chalcolithic period (3900-2500 BC), thus named precisely because of the limited use of metals. In fact, only twelve metal objects are known so far from Chalcolithic contexts on the island. Native copper was found in metallic form in small surface deposits, and did not require smelting or other kind of processing in order to be used. More often, however, copper was found embedded in ores, which needed smelting in very high temperatures in order to extract the precious metal