A bronze spiral ornament covered with gold foil. One terminal is modelled in the form of a double griffin head and the other in the form of a ‘tail’. Below the heads are rosettes made in fine filigree technique. This is a characteristic type of Cypriot ornament, which was used either as an earring or, more likely, as a hair-coil. There are also examples with lion-head finials decorated with enamelling or granulation. Sometimes, such ornaments are found in pairs. Jewellery-making developed in Cyprus since prehistoric times and enjoyed a notable heyday in the Late Cypriot period, when there was a remarkable increase in supplies of raw materials (gold, silver) from Egypt, Syria and Asia Minor. After the upheavals at the end of the Bronze Age, gold-working started to revive in Geometric times, when contacts with traditional centres of gold production and processing in the East were restored; it flourished again in the Classical period. Pieces of jewellery such as the one here are frequently found in tombs. They bear witness to the skill of the Cypriot goldsmiths as well as to the strong artistic influences they received from the East. The griffin, a mythological creature of Assyrian origin, became popular as a decorative motif in Cyprus during the Persian occupation of the island under the influence of Achaemenid art.