Simon Jusseret
Vanessa Boschloos
Athanasia Kanta
Joachim Bretschneider
Greta Jans
Thérèse Claeys…
7 pages
The site of Pyla-Kokkinokremos, located ca. 15 km east of Larnaka along the coast of Cyprus, represents a singularly short-lived settlement in the island’s Late Bronze Age history. Established only a generation or so prior to its eventual abandonment in the early 12th c. BC, the settlement is a valuable ‘time capsule’ of the Late Cypriot IIC/IIIA (1230-1170 BC) critical phase.
AI
A sixth joint excavation campaign between the Universities of Ghent, Louvain and the Mediterranean Archaeological Society took place at Pyla-Kokkinokremos from the 26th of March until the 26th of May, 2019. Since its discovery in the early 1950s, the Late Bronze Age settlement of Pyla-Kokkinokremos has occupied a prominent position in the debates surrounding the ‘collapse’ of Bronze Age Mediterranean societies c. 1200 BCE. Several elements contributed to the site’s particular status in the Late Cypriot IIC-IIIA settlement landscape: - the short-lived character of the site – founded towards the end of the 13th c. BCE and abandoned during the first quarter of the 12th c. BCE - its exceptional ‘casemate’ architecture - its multi-ethnic material culture – with references to Sardinia, Crete, Egypt, Anatolia, the Syro-Palestinian coast and Mycenaean Greece. In 2014, Prof. Joachim Bretschneider (UGhent), Prof. Jan Driessen (UCLouvain) and Dr. Athanasia Kanta (Mediterranean Archaeological Society) inaugurated a new excavation project at Pyla-Kokkinokremos following previous successful investigations by Dr. Dikaios, Prof. Karageorghis and Dr. Kanta.
D. Pilides and M. Mina (eds), Four Decades of Hiatus in Archaeological Research in Cyprus: Towards Restoring the Balance (Kypriaka – Forschungen zum Antiken Zypern: Studies on Ancient Cyprus), Wien, 2017
Cyprus: An Island Culture. Society and Social Relations from the Bronze Age to the Venetian Period, 2012
Oxford Handbook of the Ancient Levant., 2014
Sixty years after the excavations of Porphyrios Dikaios at the prehistoric site, Kalavasos Kokkinoyia in Cyprus, recent excavations are revealing new information on the poorly understood transition from the Late Neolithic period to the Early Chalcolithic period (ca 4000-3900 cal. BC). Kalavasos Kokkinoyia features at least two anomalous traits: an extensive chamber and tunnel complex and the complete absence of any animal or botanical remains. These features set the site apart from other sites of the Late Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic periods in Cyprus. This paper summarises recent findings at Kalavasos Kokkinoyia in the wider context of Cyprus in the late 5th and early 4th millennia BC and poses some questions regarding the nature of site diversity at this time.
CONTATTI CULTURALI E SCAMBI COMMERCIALI DELLA SARDEGNA NURAGICA: LA ROTTA MERIDIONALE (SARDEGNA, SICILIA, CRETA, CIPRO) Atti del IV festival della Civiltà Nuragica (Orroli, Cagliari), 2021
Aegis 24, 2023
Proceedings of the 11th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, 2020
The northern coast of Cyprus has long been of interest to archaeologists researching the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age on the island. However, no prehistoric sites have been excavated in the region around the Chrysochou Bay, along the island’s northwest coast. With easy access to rich mineral sources, to the sea, to resources in the upland forests, and to arable land, this region would certainly have been attractive to the prehistoric inhabitants of the island. In the summer of 2017, the Cypriot Department of Antiquities granted the authors a permit to conduct surface collection and geophysical survey at the site of Makounta-Voules-Mersinoudia, a large prehistoric site approximately 2.5 km from the coast of Chrysochou Bay, approximately 5 km of the town of Polis. The site of Makounta-Voules-Mersinoudia has been visited by archaeologists many times in recent decades but until now has not been subjected to systematic, intensive survey. In this paper, we present the results of our first season of work at Makounta-Voules-Mersinoudia, outline some of the implications of our results, and describe our plan for future work at the site. We also present the results of a rescue project that we conducted on behalf of the Department of Antiquities: surface survey and geophysical study at the site of Stroumpi-Pigi-Agios Andronikos, a small prehistoric site just outside the town of Stroumpi.
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AI
The site serves as a 'time capsule' reflecting the Late Cypriot IIC/IIIA period, specifically from 1230-1170 BC. Its brief habitation and subsequent abandonment provide crucial insights into settlement dynamics during this era.
Excavations targeted specifically Trenches 3.3 and 3.4, along with the newly opened Sector 6. A total of ten additional spaces were revealed, primarily within the settlement's casemate system.
Significant finds included an Egyptian alabaster amphora in Space 3.3.23 and a krater in Pictorial Style, decorated with bulls and birds, located in Spaces 5.5 and 5.15.
The recovery of four Sardinian olle suggests possible Sardinian connections or presence at the settlement. This is supported by patterns of trade or interaction visible in the Late Bronze Age.
Sector 4.2 revealed exceptional wall preservation with indications of a large bastion. A large hearth was found blocking corridor access, indicating post-abandonment reuse of the area.
Urbanism in the Iron Age Levant and Beyond , 2025
Towards the end of the Late Bronze Age (Late Cypriot period), the coastal settlement of Pyla-Kokkinokremos was engaged in maritime interactions with various regions including Sardinia, Greece, Crete, Anatolia, the Levant, and Egypt. Unlike other contemporary Cypriot trading sites such as Hala Sultan Tekke, Kition, and Enkomi located in the southeast of the island, Pyla-Kokkinokremos appears to have experienced only a brief period of occupation during LC IIC. This contribution presents some preliminary findings from the excavations conducted between 2014 and 2023, with a specific focus on the lifespan of the settlement.
Journal of World Prehistory, 1994
The archaeological record of prehistoric Cyprus is rich, diverse, well-published, and frequently enigmatic. Regarded by many as a "bridge" between western Asia and the Aegean, Cyprus and its past are frequently seen from scholarly perspectives prevalent in one of those two cultural areas. Its material culture, however, differs radically from that of either area. Apart from the early colonization episodes on the island (perhaps three during the pre-Neolithic and Neolithic), evidence of foreign contact remains limited until the Bronze Age (post-2500 B.C.). This study seeks to present the prehistory of Cyprus from an indigenous perspective, and to examine a series of archaeological problems that foreground Cyprus within its eastern Mediterranean context. The study begins with an overview of time, place, and the nature of fieldwork on the island, continues with a presentation and discussion of several significant issues in Cypriot prehistory (e.g., insularity, colonization, subsistence, regionalism, interaction, social complexity, economic diversity), and concludes with a brief discussion of prospects for the archaeology of Cyprus up to and "beyond 2000. "
Neo-Lithics, 2023
2018
A fifth joint excavation campaign between the Universities of Ghent, Louvain and the Mediterranean Archaeological Society took place at Pyla-Kokkinokremos from the 27th of March until the 26th of May. The site of Pyla-Kokkinokremos represents a singularly short-lived settlement in the island’s Late Bronze Age history. Established only a generation or so prior to its eventual abandonment in the early 12th century BC, the site provides important evidence relating to the crucial period at the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 12th century BC. Former excavations suggest the entire plateau of ca. 7 ha to have been densely occupied. Excavated parts on the plateau were laid-out regularly within a perimeter ‘casemate’ wall. During the 2018 season excavations continued both on the west and east lobe in an effort to better understand the layout, organisation and functional specialisation of the settlement.
