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The Medieval Cane Sugar Industry in Cyprus: Results of Recent Excavation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2011

Marie-Louise von Wartburg
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Summary

The results of the first systematic excavation of a cane sugar factory attached to the Lusignan Manor of Covocle (Kouklia), combined with a comparative study of similar installations in the western part of the island, demonstrate the importance of the cane sugar industry in the economy of late medieval Cyprus. Of interest in a wider historical context is the new evidence recovered for contemporary technology and mechanical devices. At the same time, a first comprehensive analysis of the characteristic industrial pottery from the site contributes to a better understanding of the process and the organization of cane sugar production.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 63 , Issue 2 , September 1983 , pp. 298 - 314
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1983

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References

NOTES

1 E.g. von Lippmann, E. O., Geschicht des Zuckers, 2nd edn. (Berlin, 1929)Google Scholar; Deerr, N.:, The History of Sugar, 2 vols. (London, 1949)Google Scholar; Ashtor, E.,‘Levantine sugar industry in the late Middle Ages’ Israel Oriental Studies, vii (1977), 227–80.Google Scholar

2 Relevant for the sugar production in Cyprus are: Latrie, M. L. de Mas, Histoire de l'île de Chypre, II (1862)Google Scholar, III (1865), IV, Nouvelles preuves (Paris, 1873)Google Scholar; Ober-hummer, E., Die Insel Cypern (Munich, 1903)Google Scholar; Hill, G., A History of Cyprus, 11 and III, 3rd edn. (Cambridge, 1973).Google Scholar Apart from the plan- tations and refineries in western Cyprus referred to in this article, other Lusignansugar sugar plantations were situated at Morphou, Lefka, Potamia, Akanthou and Kanakaria (in the Karpass peninsula).

3 The research project was sponsored by the German Archaeological Institute and the University of Zürich. Generous assistance, also came from the Gerda Henkel Foundation.

4 See the preliminary reports: Maier, F. G., Report Dept. Antiquities Cyprus (= R.D.A.C.) 1974, 136; 1975, 75; 1976, 92; 1977, 133 f.;. 1979, 174 f.; 1981,103.Google Scholar

5 For North Africa see Berthier, P., Les anciennes sucreries du Maroc et leurs réseaux hydrauliques, 1 (Rabat, 1966), p. 192Google Scholar; for refineries in the Jordan Valley: Ibrahim, M., Sauer, J. and Yassine, K., Bull. Am. School Oriental Research, XXII (1976.), 47Google Scholar f., 63; for a refinery at Susa (Iran): Boucharlat, R. and Labrousse, A. in Cahiers de la Délég. Arch. Française en Iran, X (1979), 161, 167.Google Scholar

6 From the translation by Wiedemann, E., in Sitzungsbericht der physikalisch-medizinischen Sozietät zu Erlangen (1915), pp. 87Google Scholar f. The moulds from Egypt described by al-Nuwairi are provided with three holes at the bottom of the same type as the moulds found at Susa.

7 E.g. Labat, J. B., Nouveaux voyages aux îies de l'Amérique, III (Paris, 1722), pp. 286–9Google Scholar, where local manufacture as well as the importation of moulds from Bordeaux is mentioned. Manufacture of pottery used in sugar production on the factory site in order to reduce transport costs is attested at a Sicilian refinery: Rebora, G., Annali di Storia Economica e Sociale, XIV (1968), 48Google Scholar f. Local manufacture of sugar vessels is also proved for Moroccan refineries, see Berthier, op. cit. (note 5), 1, p. 196. Importation of moulds into Crete, on the other hand, is referred to in a document of 1428: see Noiret, H., ‘Documents inédits pour servir à l'histoire de la domination venétienne à Crète’, Bibl. des Ecoles Françaises d'Athène et de Rome, LXI (1892), 324, 352.Google Scholar

8 See R.D.A.C. 1977,135 f.

9 See R.D.A.C. 1979, 173; Berthier, op. cit., 1, pp. 145 ff.

10 Mas Latrie, op. cit. (note 2), III, 218 ff., cf. Deerr, op. cit. (note 1), p. 8.

11 See R.D.A.C. 1979, 175.

12 Mas Latrie, op. cit., iv, p. 396. Cf. Young, S., in Swiny, H. W., An Archaeological Guide to the Ancient Kourion and the Akrotiri Peninsula (Nicosia, 1982), p. 157.Google Scholar

13 Enlart, C., L'art gothique et la Renaissance en Chypre, II (Paris, 1899), p. 699.Google Scholar

14 See R.D.A.C. 1979, 175 f.; 1981, 103.

15 Cf. the preliminary reports R.D.A.C. 1981, 103 f.; R.D.A.C. 1983, forthcoming.

16 E.g. al-Nuwairi, translated by Wiedemann, op. cit. (note 6), pp. 86 ff.

17 Unfortunately none of these waterpowered stones was found in situ. A large number of complete or fragmented stones of this type were, however, rescued from the debris covering the buildings. These smaller millstones show a diameter of c. 1·15 m.

18 E.g. Enlart, op. cit. (note 13), 11, pp. 697 ff.

19 The terms ‘horizontal mill’ and ‘mill of turbine type’ are used somewhat indiscriminately by modern scholars. We think it is advisable to distinguish between a simpler and earlier form of horizontal mill (often called the ‘Greek’ or ‘Norse mill’) and an advanced type of horizontal mill (the ‘turbine type’ proper): here the mill stream is compressed into a water jet directed against the wheel (see Forbes, R. J., in Singer, C.et al. (edd.), A History of Technology, II (Oxford, 1956), pp. 593–5Google Scholar; and A. P. Usher, Ibid., III (1957), pp. 328 f. The undated horizontal mills from Iran described by Beazley, E. and Haverson, M. (Living with the Desert (Warminster, 1982), pp. 74 f.Google Scholar) may be considered as fairly simple specimens of the turbine type; the eighth-century water-mill from Tamworth, Staffs, (in Trans. South Staffs. Arch. Hist. Soc. XIII (1971–1972), 9–16Google Scholar, on the other hand, basically seems to represent a Norse mill.

20 Labat, op. cit. (note 7), III, p. 256.

21 See Mas Latrie, op. cit. (note 2), IV, p. 393; Hill, op. cit. (note 2), III, pp. 570, 628.

22 Cf. Labat, op. cit, III, p. 351. As the methods of cane sugar production hardly changed over the centuries, his figures are relevant also for medieval refineries. For a more detailed analysis of the different types of vessels found at Kouklia, see R.D.A.C 1983, forthcoming.

23 Pegolotti, F. B., in Evans, A. (ed.), La pratica della mercatura (Cambridge, Mass., 1936), pp. 297, 308 f., 362 ff.Google Scholar

24 The author is most grateful to A. Papageorghiou for his kind permission to inspect the ceramic material from the site and to publish the photographs for pls. XLIIIa and XLIXa.

25 Cf. Hill, op. cit. (note 2), II, p. 22; III, p. 628; Mas Latrie, op. cit. (note 2), II, pp. 455, 457, 503; III, pp. 27 f., 88 f. For a plan of the remains see Megaw, A. H. S., Kolossi Castle: a Guide (Nicosia, 1964).Google Scholar

26 Mas Latrie, op. cit., III, pp. 497, 535; Hill, op. cit., III, pp. 816 f.

27 I owe this information to Cathy Brook, who has published a first report on these vessels: Bull. York Arch. Trust, viii, 4 (1982).

28 Some specimens of these nineteenth-century vessels are exhibited at the Zuckermuseum of West Berlin.

29 Cf. Usher, op. cit. (note 19), III, p. 328; F. Veranzio, Machinae novae, German reedition with an introduction by Berninger, H.: Erfindungen von einst (Dortmund, 1982).Google Scholar