Early Cycladic people

Apart from the Minoans and, later, the Mycenaeans, the Early Cycladic people played an important part in the development of Mediterranean metallurgy. In fact, the Cycladic islands of the central Aegean came into extraordinary prominence in the third millennium B.C. The islands were the home of a flourishing culture with prominent settlements, a rather abundant population, well-developed pottery, and striking achievements in marble sculpture. Production of silver, lead (5), and copper from their ores was developed early, along with a rather vigorous trade. 

Early Bronze Age. Our work on the Early Bronze Age metal sources started as an investigation of the sources of lead and silver for the Early Cycladic people (5). The result of this work, as shown in Figure 5, was proof that the dominant source of silver and lead for the Early Bronze Age Cyclades was the Cycladic island of Siphnos, and that in the later part of the Early Bronze Age the Laurion lead-silver deposits also provided these metals (16). 

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