Prehistory of Cyprus

Epipalaeolithic

Cyprus was not settled in the old stone age, which led to the survival of numerous dwarf forms, such as dwarf elephants (Elephas cypriotes) and pygmy hippos (Phanourios minutis) well into the Holocene. There are claims of an association of this fauna with artefacts of Epipalaeolithic foragers at Aetokremnos near Limassol on the southern coast of Cyprus.

Neolithic

Aceramic Neolithic

The first undisputed settlement occurred in the 9th (or perhaps 10th) millennium BC from the (PPNB). The first settlers were already agriculturalists, but did not yet produce pottery (aceramic Neolithic). They introduced the dog, sheep, goats and maybe cattle and pigs as well as numerous wild animals like foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and Persian fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica) that were previously unknown on the island. The PPNB settlers built round houses with floors made of terrazzo of burned lime (e.g. Kastros, Shillourokambos, Tenta) and cultivated einkorn and emmer. Pig, sheep, goat and cattle were kept, but remained morphologically wild. Evidence for cattle (attested at Shillourokambos) is rare and when they apparently died out in the course of the 8th millennium they were not reintroduced until the early Bronze Age.

In the 6th millennium BC, the aceramic Khirokitia culture (Neolithic I) was characterised by round houses (tholoi), stone vessels and an economy based on sheep, goats and pigs.The daily life of the people in those neolithic villages was spent in farming, hunting, animal husbandry and the lithic industry, while homesteaders (likely women) were engaged in spindling and weaving cloths, in addition to their probable participation in other activities. The lithic industry was the most individual feature of this aceramic culture and innumerable stone vessels made of grey andesite have been discovered during excavations.The houses had a foundation of river pebbles, the remainder of the building was constructed in mudbrick. Sometimes several round houses were joined together to form a kind of compound. Some of these houses reach a diameter of up to 10 m. Inhumation burials are located inside the houses.

Plant remains indicate the cultivation of cereals, lentils, beans, peas and a kind of plum called Bullace. Remains of the following animal species were recovered during excavations: Persian fallow deer, goat, sheep, mouflon and pig. More remains indicate Red deer, Roe deer, a kind of horse and a kind of dog but no cattle as yet.

Life expectancy seems to have been very short; the average age at death appears to have been about 34 years, and there was a very high infant mortality rate.

Ceramic Neolithic

The aceramic civilisation of Cyprus came to an end quite abruptly around 6000 BC. It was probably followed by a vacuum of almost 1.500 years until around 4500 BC when we have the emergence of Neolithic II (Ceramic Neolithic).

At this time newcomers arrived in Cyprus introducing a new neolithic era. The main settlement that embodies most of the characteristics of the period is Sotira near the south coast of Cyprus. The following ceramic Sotira phase (Neolithic II) has monochrome vessels with combed decoration.It had nearly fifty houses, usually having a single room that had its own hearth, benches, platforms and partitions that provided working places. The houses were on the main free-standing, with relatively thin walls and tended to be square with rounded corners. The sub-rectangular houses had two or three rooms. In Khirokitia, the remains of the Sotira phase overlay the aceramic remains. There are Sotira-ceramics in the earliest levels of Erimi as well. In the North of the island, the ceramic levels of Troulli maybe synchronous with Sotira in the South.

The Late Neolithic is characterised by a red-on white ware. The late neolithic settlement of Kalavassos-Pamboules has sunken houses.

Chalcolithic

The Neolithic II culture was destroyed by an earthquake c.3800 BC. In the society that emerged there are no overt signs of newcomers but signs of continuity, therefore despite the violent natural catastrophe, there is an internal evolution that is formalised around 3500 BC when we have the beginning of the so-called Chalcolithic (copper and stone) period that lasted until about 2500/2300 BC.

Metalwork appears now for the first time and will stamp the future of the island for centuries to come. We have very few chisels, hooks and jewellery of pure copper but in one example there is a minimal presence of tin, something which may support contact with Asia Minor, where copper-working was established earlier.

During the Chalcolithic period changes of major importance took place along with technological and artistic achievements, especially towards its end. The presence of a stamp seal and the size of the houses that was not uniform, both hint at property rights and social hierarchy. The same story is supported by the burials because some of them were deposited in pits without grave goods and some in shaft graves with relatively rich furniture, both being indications of wealth accumulation by certain families and social differentiation.

The Eneolithic or Chalcolithic period is divided into the Erimi (Chalcolithic I) and Ambelikou/Ayios Georghios (Chalcolithic II) phases. The type site of the neolithic I period is Erimi on the South coast of the island. The ceramic is characterised by red-on white pottery with linear and floral designs. Stone (steatite) and clay figurines with spread arms are common. In Erimi, a copper chisel has been found, this is the oldest copper find in Cyprus so far. Otherwise, copper is still rare.

The Chalcolithic period did not come to an end at the same time all over Cyprus. In the Paphos area it lingered on although in northern Cyprus the Bronze Age came into being

Bronze Age

Early Bronze Age

The new era was introduced by people from Anatolia who came to Cyprus because of disturbances in Asia Minor. It is only natural that we observe the first vivid vestiges of this civilisation around 2300 BC in the northern part of the island, from where it spread south and west.

As the newcomers knew how to work with copper they soon moved to the so-called copperbelt of the island, that is the foothills of the Troodos mountains. This movement reflects the increased interest in the raw material that was going to be so closely connected with Cyprus for several centuries afterwards.