Evidence of sedentary villagers in Cyprus

ARCHEOLOGISTS believe they have discovered evidence of the existence of sedentary villagers in Cyprus dating back to the ninth millennium BC.

According to the Department of Antiquities, excavations at the site of Klimonas in Ayios Tychonas in the Limassol District have revealed the remains of a partially subterranean circular building, and the findings indicate that there were sedentary villagers in Cyprus, very similar to those of the late Pre-Pottery Neolithic A in the Levant.

This year’s investigations, carried out by the French Archaeological Mission, have revealed the remains of an impressive, partially subterranean circular building, approximately 10 metres. in diameter, which is very similar to the large communal buildings that have been excavated in several villages dated to the second half of the earliest phase of the Neolithic in the Northern Levant (Pre-Pottery Neolithic A, PPNA; from 9500 to 8500 BC), which have been interpreted as buildings for meeting and common storage.

Stone tools, faunal remains and radiocarbon dating have confirmed that the building at Klimonas dates to the first half of the 9th millennium.

It is also associated with the remains of several other smaller buildings and with archaeological layers with fire places, most of them not yet excavated.

Until now, the earliest known Neolithic villages in Cyprus date back to 8300-8400 cal. BC, and have been associated with early cereal and pulse agriculture and with early domestic cattle and goats.

Archaeologists have recently discovered that people were living in Cyprus before 8400 BC, but know very little about their way of life.

The discoveries of the French team at Klimonas indicate that these were sedentary villagers, very similar to those of the late Pre-Pottery Neolithic A in the Levant.

Future excavations are expected to provide more information concerning the organisation of the village and the way of life of these Cypriot villagers.