• Mining, smelting and smithing processes are all technically complicated. How was the society organized in order to produce copper products?
• How did the trade links develop? Were they direct links or were there intermediaries?
• How was the shipping organized?
• How did the economy work? Did an international marketplace exist?
• Were objects exported from Cyprus recognized as prestige items? What kind of a worldview did this imply for the population?
• How much interaction did foreigners have with the Cypriot populations? How much awareness was there of other cultures, languages, religions?
• Which culture was controlling the trade?

• Where did the oxhide shape originate?
• When was the oxhide ingot first used in Cypriot copper working?
• How was the shape introduced to Cyprus?
• Did this shape have economic implications?
• Tests on the copper shows that these ingots often came from different sources. Was the distribution of the ingots controlled? Why are they found in some areas and not others?
• Why are so few ingots found on Cyprus, when Cyprus was one of the main producers of copper?
• Did oxhide ingots mean the same thing to people who lived in different places?

Although shipwrecks provide a rare glimpse of trade in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Bronze Age, they do not answer all questions. For example:

• What route were these ships taking? Where had they been?
• Was trade the only purpose to their journeys?
• What nationality was the crew? Where had the ships been built?

• If Alashiya does not refer to Cyprus, to where does it refer?
• If it does refer to Cyprus, does it refer to the entire island or a particular city-state within the island