This very important find exemplifies one of the earliest forms of exchange media from the time before coinage. Its shape is typical of the East Mediterranean Late Bronze Age: roughly rectangular, with slightly curved sides and pulled corners. Its resemblance to a stretched animal's hide may be a reminder of earlier exchange in animals hides, although this particular shape also facilitates the ingot's transportation and storage. Indeed, the ingot appears to be the most popular means for transporting copper in the East Mediterranean and thus must have been a standard exchange unit. Bronze ingots carried by Ethiopians, Syrians and Keftiu (Mycenaean Cretans and Cypriots) as gifts for the Pharaoh are depicted in Egyptian wall paintings of approximately 1550 BC (reign of Tuthmosis III).