Prehistoric Cyprus
The Prehistoric Period is the oldest part of Cypriot history. This article covers the period 11,000 to 800 BC and ends immediately before the documented history of Cyprus begins.
Paleolithic
Prior to the arrival of humans in Cyprus, only four terrestrial mammal species were present on the island, including the Cypriot pygmy hippopotamus and the Cyprus dwarf elephant, which were much smaller than their mainland ancestors as a result of insular dwarfism. The ancestors of these species arrived on Cyprus at least 200,000 years ago, with the other species being the Cypriot genet and the still living Cypriot mouse. The earliest humans to inhabit Cyprus were hunter gatherers who arrived on the island around 11,000–10,000 BC, with some of the oldest well-dated sites being Aetokremnos on the south coast, which is suggested to show evidence of hunting of the dwarf hippopotamus and dwarf elephant, and the inland site of Roudias in southeast Cyprus. These hunter-gatherers are suggested to have originated from the Natufian culture of the neighbouring Levant. The last records of the endemic mammals other than the mouse date to shortly after human settlement. The hunter gatherers later introduced wild boar to the island around 12,000 years ago, likely to act as a source of food.Neolithic
Aceramic Neolithic
The oldest evidence of Neolithic settlement is dated to 8800–8600 BC. The first settlers were already agriculturalists, but did not yet produce pottery. They introduced dogs, sheep, goats and maybe cattle and pigs as well as numerous wild animals like foxes and Persian fallow deer that were previously unknown on the island. The PPNB settlers built round houses with floors made of terrazzo of burned lime and cultivated einkorn and emmer. Pigs, sheep, goats and cattle were kept, but remained morphologically wild. Evidence for cattle 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 Choirokoitia culture was characterized by round houses, 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 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 the Choirokoitia culture and many stone vessels made of grey andesite have been discovered during excavations. The houses had a foundation of river pebbles and the remainder of the building was constructed out of mudbricks. Sometimes several round houses were joined together to form a kind of compound. Some of these houses reach a diameter of up to. Inhumation burials are located inside the houses.
Water wells discovered by archaeologists in western Cyprus are believed to be among the oldest in the world, dated at 9,000 to 10,500 years old, putting them in the Stone Age. They are said to show the sophistication of early settlers, and their heightened appreciation for the environment.
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 short; the average age at death appears to have been about 34 years, and there was high infant mortality.
In 2004, the remains of an 8-month-old cat were discovered buried with its human owner at a Neolithic archeological site in Cyprus. The grave is estimated to be 9,500 years old, predating Egyptian civilization and pushing back the earliest known feline-human association significantly.
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 with the emergence of Neolithic II.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 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 may be 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 culture was destroyed by an earthquake. Despite the violent natural catastrophe there are signs of continuit with an internal evolution that is formalised around 3500 BC with appearance of the first metalwork and the beginning of the Chalcolithic period that lasted until around 2500/2300 BC. Very few chisels, hooks and jewellery of pure copper have survived, 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 non uniform house size, both hint at property rights and social hierarchy. This is supported by burials as some were deposited in pits without grave goods and some in shaft graves with relatively rich furniture, both indications of wealth accumulation by certain families and social differentiation.
The Eneolithic or Chalcolithic period is divided into the Erimi and Ambelikou/Ayios Georghios 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 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. Another important Chalcolithic site is Lempa.
The Chalcolithic period did not come to an end at the same time throughout Cyprus, and lingered in the Paphos area until the arrival of the Bronze Age.
Bronze Age
Early Bronze Age
The new era was introduced by people from Anatolia who came to Cyprus around 2400 BC. The newcomers are identified archaeologically because of a distinct material culture, known as the Philia Culture. This was the earliest manifestation of the Bronze Age. Philia sites are found in most parts of the island.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.
The Philia phase of the Bronze Age saw a rapid transformation of technology and economy. Rectilinear buildings made of mud-brick, the plough, the warp-weighted loom and clay pot stands are among the characteristic introductions. Cattle were reintroduced, together with the donkey.
The succeeding Early Bronze Age is divided into three general phases - a continuous process of development and population increase. Marki Alonia is the best excavated settlement of this period.
Marki Alonia and Sotira Kaminoudhia are excavated settlements. Many cemeteries are known, including Bellapais Vounous on the north coast.
Middle Bronze Age
The Middle Bronze Age, which follows the Early Bronze Age, is a relatively short period and its earlier part is marked by peaceful development. The Middle Bronze Age is known from several excavated settlements: Marki Alonia, Alambra Mouttes and Pyrgos Mavroraki. These give evidence of the economy and architecture of the period. From Alambra and Marki in central Cyprus we know that the houses were rectangular with many rooms, with lanes allowing people to move freely in the community. At the end of the Middle Bronze Age, fortresses were built in various places, an indication of unrest, although the cause is uncertain. The most important cemeteries are at Bellapais, Lapithos, Kalavasos and Deneia. An extensive collection of Bronze Age pottery can be seen online from the cemeteries at Deneia.The oldest copper workshops have been excavated at Pyrgos-Mavroraki, southwest of Nicosia. Cyprus was known as Alashiya, the name is preserved in Egyptian, Hittite, Assyrian and Ugaritic documents. The first recorded name of a Cypriot king is Kushmeshusha, as appears on letters sent to Ugarit in the 13th century BC.
Late Bronze Age
The beginning of the Late Bronze Age does not differ from the closing years of previous period. Unrest, tension and anxiety mark all these years, probably because of some sort of engagement with the Hyksos, who ruled Egypt at this time but were expelled from there in the mid-1500s BC. Soon afterwards peaceful conditions prevailed in the Eastern Mediterranean which saw a flowering of trade relations and the growing of urban centres. Chief among them was Enkomi, near modern Famagusta, though several other harbour towns also sprang up along the southern coast of Cyprus. Around 1500 BC, Thutmose III claimed Cyprus and imposed a tax on the island.Literacy was introduced to Cyprus with the Cypro-Minoan syllabary, a derivation from Cretan Linear A. It was first used in early phases of the late Bronze Age and continued in use for around 400 years into the LC IIIB, maybe up to the second half of the 11th century BC. It likely evolved into the Cypriot syllabary.
The Late Cypriot IIC was a time of local prosperity. Cities were rebuilt on a rectangular grid plan, like Enkomi, where the town gates now correspond to the grid axes and numerous grand buildings front the street system or newly founded. Great official buildings point to increased social hierarchisation and control. Some of these buildings contain facilities for processing and storing olive oil, like at Maroni-Vournes and "building X" at Kalavassos-Ayios Dhimitrios. Other ashlar-buildings are known from Palaeokastro. A Sanctuary with a horned altar constructed from ashlar-masonry has been found at Myrtou-Pigadhes, other temples have been located at Enkomi, Kition and Kouklia.
Rectangular corbelled tombs point to close contact with Syria and Canaan as well. The practice of writing spread, and tablets in the Cypro-Minoan script have been found on the mainland as well. Ugaritic texts from Ras Shamra and Enkomi mention "Ya", the Assyrian name of Cyprus, that thus seems to have been in use already in the late Bronze Age.
Cyprus was, at some times, a part of the Hittite empire but was a client state and as such was not invaded but rather part of the empire by association and governed by the ruling kings of Ugarit. As such Cyprus was essentially "left alone with little intervention in Cypriot affairs". However, during the reign of Tudhaliya IV the island was briefly invaded by the Hittites to either secure the island's copper or as a way of preventing piracy. Shortly afterwards the island had to be reconquered again by his son Suppiluliuma II, around 1200 BC. Some towns show traces of destruction at the end of LC IIC. Originally, two waves of destruction, by the Sea Peoples and 1190 BC by Aegean refugees, or according to Paul Aström 1190 and 1179 BC, had been proposed. Some smaller settlements were abandoned but do not show traces of destruction.
Rich finds from this period testify to vivid commerce with other countries. These include jewellery and other precious objects from the Aegean along with pottery that prove a close connections between the two areas, though finds coming from Near Eastern countries are also plentiful.
In the later phase of the late Bronze Age great amounts of "Mycenaean" IIIC:1b pottery were produced locally. New architectural features include Cyclopean walls, found on the Greek mainland as well and a certain type of rectangular stepped capitals, endemic to Cyprus. Chamber tombs are given up in favour of shaft graves. Cyprus was settled by Mycenaean Greeks by the end of the Bronze Age, beginning the Hellenization of the island. Large amounts of IIIC:1b pottery are found in Palestine during this period as well. There are finds that show close connections to Egypt as well. Egyptian pottery has been found at Hala Sultan Tekke, among them wine jugs bearing the cartouche of Seti I and fish bones of the Nile perch.
Another wave of Greek colonization is believed to have taken place in the following century, indicated, among other things, by a new type of graves and Mycenean influences in pottery decoration.
Most authors claim that the Cypriot city kingdoms, first described in written sources in the 8th century BC were already founded in the 11th century BC. Other scholars see a slow process of increasing social complexity between the 12th and the 8th centuries, based on a network of chiefdoms. In the 8th century the number of settlements increases sharply and monumental tombs, like the 'Royal' tombs of Salamis appear for the first time. This could be a better indication for the appearance of the Cypriot kingdoms. This period shows the appearance of large urban centers.