Glossary Metals, materials and technology
Pillow lava
Rounded, pillow-shaped masses of lava formed when molten rock erupts under the sea; in the Troodos they host the copper ores.
The Troodos massif is a slab of ancient ocean floor pushed up above the sea, and its pillow lavas are one of the clearest signs of that origin. The Cyprus-type sulphide deposits that became the island's copper ores formed within these lavas, so this one rock type shapes the whole history of Cypriot metallurgy.
Archaeologists also use the pillow lavas as a geological reference point. Ore for the Middle Bronze Age copper-working at Alambra came from pillow lavas a few miles away, while clay studies of Red Polished Philia ware point to a source in the north of the island, away from the Troodos pillow lavas.
Full entry: Cyprus Before Humans: Dwarf Hippos, Dwarf Elephants and the First Visitors