Regional styles in the pottery production of cyprus during the geometric period (11th-8th c. BC) ... more Regional styles in the pottery production of cyprus during the geometric period (11th-8th c. BC) The present article discusses the issue of regional pottery workshops in Cyprus during the Geom et ric period. The detailed analysis of the pottery, which constitutes the principal record for this period, reveals new prospects for the study of the Cypro-Geometric horizon. On the basis of a sound methodology, the identification and definition of the regional character of the pottery production enables us to approach the specific and distinct modes of development of the different regions of the island. In the absence of written sources for the Cypro-Geometric period, such an approach is apt to elucidate the process of the formation of the Cypriot kingdoms of the first millennium BC.
This paper offers an overview on the distribution of Early Iron Age Cypriot ceramic exports both ... more This paper offers an overview on the distribution of Early Iron Age Cypriot ceramic exports both in the Levant and in the Aegean. The typological and stylistic analysis of the corpus of Cypriot ceramics sheds light on the involvement of different production centres into theses exchanges. On the basis of the recognisable Cypriot centres and the repertoire of their exports, this study discloses the diverse but also common distribution networks between the Levant and the Aegean during the Early Iron Age.
This article , based on a study of ceramic material from the different contexts attested in Amath... more This article , based on a study of ceramic material from the different contexts attested in Amathous during the Cypro-Geometric period , aims to define and characterize the local pottery production by indicating the regional elements that evidently differentiate it from the contemporary productions of the other regions of the island.
The transition from the 12th to the 11th century BC in Cyprus constitutes a critical junction tha... more The transition from the 12th to the 11th century BC in Cyprus constitutes a critical junction that marks the close of the Late Bronze Age and the inception of the Early Iron Age. This transformative phase remains poorly known and ill defined, not least because of the remarkable dearth of stratified settlement strata exposed to this day on the island. Recent investigations by the French Archaeological Mission at Kition, within the locality of Bamboula, situated on the northern part of the modern-day town of Larnaca, have brought to light a continuous stratigraphic succession of floor layers spanning from the 13th to the 11th centuries BC, thus marking an exceptional instance on an island-wide basis. The aim of this contribution is to provide a comprehensive presentation of the stratigraphic, architectural and artefactual remains exposed at Kition-Bamboula that provide crucial new data for the transitional 12th-to-11th century BC horizon. In particular, through the contextual analysis of well-stratified pottery remains, the study aims to discuss the transformations observed on the island’s ceramic repertoire and especially as regards the impact of the endorsement of wheel-made technology for the production of ceramic finewares. The study will also elucidate the extra-insular connections maintained by the cosmopolitan harbour town at Kition, based on the analysis of the plethora of Levantine maritime transport amphorae contained within the settlement’s pertinent levels. Finally, this presentation will discuss a series of idiosyncratic phenomena, such as infant jar-burials and purple-dye production, dating to the settlement’s transitional phases of the 12th and 11th centuries BC. Ultimately, our contribution aspires to shed light on the continuities and changes observed on the Cypriot material culture and the transformative capacities of the island’s communities at the dawn of the Early Iron Age.
The transition from the 12th to the 11th century BC in Cyprus constitutes a critical junction tha... more The transition from the 12th to the 11th century BC in Cyprus constitutes a critical junction that marks the close of the Late Bronze Age and the inception of the Early Iron Age. This transformative phase remains poorly known and ill defined, not least because of the remarkable dearth of stratified settlement strata exposed to this day on the island. Recent investigations by the French Archaeological Mission at Kition, within the locality of Bamboula, situated on the northern part of the modern-day town of Larnaca, have brought to light a continuous stratigraphic succession of floor layers spanning from the 13th to the 11th centuries BC, thus marking an exceptional instance on an island-wide basis. The aim of this contribution is to provide a comprehensive presentation of the stratigraphic, architectural and artefactual remains exposed at Kition-Bamboula that provide crucial new data for the transitional 12th-to-11th century BC horizon. In particular, through the contextual analysis of well-stratified pottery remains, the study aims to discuss the transformations observed on the island’s ceramic repertoire and especially as regards the impact of the endorsement of wheel-made technology for the production of ceramic finewares. The study will also elucidate the extra-insular connections maintained by the cosmopolitan harbour town at Kition, based on the analysis of the plethora of Levantine maritime transport amphorae contained within the settlement’s pertinent levels. Finally, this presentation will discuss a series of idiosyncratic phenomena, such as infant jar-burials and purple-dye production, dating to the settlement’s transitional phases of the 12th and 11th centuries BC. Ultimately, our contribution aspires to shed light on the continuities and changes observed on the Cypriot material culture and the transformative capacities of the island’s communities at the dawn of the Early Iron Age.
Excavations at Tel Dor, a Phoenician site on the northern coast of Israel, produced one of the mo... more Excavations at Tel Dor, a Phoenician site on the northern coast of Israel, produced one of the most varied and best-stratified assemblages of Cypriot Iron Age ceramics ever found outside Cyprus. A long-term investigation of the nature of socio-economic liaisons between Dor and Cyprus, inter alia, by identifying through ceramic typology and petrography the specific Cypriot production centres that sent their products to Dor is currently in progress. This paper focuses on the analytical identification of production centres first suggested by macroscopic observations; temporal trajectories and cultural implications are addressed only preliminarily. The results indicate that the Cypriot vessels that reached Dor were only produced at Salamis, Kition, Amathus and Paphos, and that the vista of imports at Dor keeps changing throughout the period under consideration. This is the most comprehensive analytical study of Cypriot Iron Age ceramic fabrics to date. It has the potential to build a foundation for provenance studies of Cypriot Iron Age ceramic fabrics and the interconnections they embody. It is constrained, however, by the fact it was mainly production centres represented at Dor that were studied.
Au debut de l’âge du Fer chypriote, la nouvelle topographie qui marque l’ile est representee par ... more Au debut de l’âge du Fer chypriote, la nouvelle topographie qui marque l’ile est representee par des sites identifies notamment grâce a la decouverte de necropoles, alors que la mise au jour des contextes d’habitat et de sanctuaires fait defaut. A ce desequilibre de la documentation s’ajoute l’absence de sources ecrites, ce qui rend difficile l’apprehension des contextes culturel et historique de l’epoque chypro-geometrique. Cela n’est cependant pas le cas pour la periode chypro-archaique : les inscriptions royales assyriennes nous renseignent que l’ile etait divisee en royaumes dont l’existence est egalement corroboree par d’autres manifestations culturelles. Dans ce cadre s’insere l’etude de vastes assemblages ceramiques, qui constituent par ailleurs la donnee archeologique la plus abondante, provenant des contextes funeraires a l’echelle de l’ile (Paphos, Kourion, Amathonte, Kition, Lapithos, Kythrea, Alaas, Salamine) dans le but d’identifier l’existence d’ateliers regionaux. Grâ...
Archaeological survey methods combined with geophysical reconnaissance and test excavations offer... more Archaeological survey methods combined with geophysical reconnaissance and test excavations offer systematic ways to shed light on ancient landscapes and settlements in regions considered passive “backwaters” on the edges of more well-known states or urban configurations. For the island of Cyprus, such rural places developing during the Iron Age (ca. 11th–4th centuries b.c.) are understudied, despite evidence for diverse and complex regional occupation patterns. This paper presents preliminary results of investigations in the Vasilikos and Maroni River valleys of south-central Cyprus and discusses the archaeological traces of emerging small-scale communities on the eastern edges of the polity of Amathus. Recent work incorporating legacy data reveals not only diverse taphonomies of rural landscapes, but also heterogeneous activities marked by investment in rural commodities, as well as by ritual and mortuary practices. Such investigations allow archaeologists to reassess assumptions ...
Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome
During recent excavations of the French Archaeological Mission at Kition-Bamboula, in modern day ... more During recent excavations of the French Archaeological Mission at Kition-Bamboula, in modern day Larnaka, Cyprus, an infant jar burial was discovered. It was found under a floor layer in a domestic context, and is dated to the beginning of the Late Cypriot IIIB period (end of the 12th– early 11th century BC). This jar burial is part of a series which seems to be attested, at least in the present state of documentation, only in eastern Cyprus (Enkomi, Salamis and, on a lesser scale, Kition) during a period that spans the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age. The Kition-Bamboula jar burial is notable for its wealth (jewellery, vase offerings, and food deposit). This article proposes a detailed and multidisciplinary study of the burial, as well as a comprehensive consideration of the treatment of infants’ dead bodies in Early Iron Age Cyprus.
Levant The Journal of the Council for British Research in the Levant, 2021
Phoenician site on the northern coast of Israel, produced one of the most varied and best-stratif... more Phoenician site on the northern coast of Israel, produced one of the most varied and best-stratified assemblages of Cypriot Iron Age ceramics ever found outside Cyprus. A long-term investigation of the nature of socioeconomic liaisons between Dor and Cyprus, inter alia, by identifying through ceramic typology and petrography the specific Cypriot production centres that sent their products to Dor is currently in progress. This paper focuses on the analytical identification of production centres first suggested by macroscopic observations; temporal trajectories and cultural implications are addressed only preliminarily. The results indicate that the Cypriot vessels that reached Dor were only produced at Salamis, Kition, Amathus and Paphos, and that the vista of imports at Dor keeps changing throughout the period under consideration. This is the most comprehensive analytical study of Cypriot Iron Age ceramic fabrics to date. It has the potential to build a foundation for provenance stu...
in L. Hulin, L. Crewe, and J. Webb (eds), Structures of Inequality on Bronze Age Cyprus. Studies in honour of Alison South, Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology, Åström Editions, Nicosia, 155-167., 2018
The territorial organisation of the Cypriot Iron Age polities and the relations between their cen... more The territorial organisation of the Cypriot Iron Age polities and the relations between their centres and peripheries have met with renewed interest in modern scholarship. The field survey of the Vasilikos Valley Project offers a valuable source of information on the Iron Age occupation of the Vasilikos Valley that makes it an interesting case-study for examining a hinterland district in its regional cultural and politico-economic context. By focusing on the material culture, this chapter assigns the Vasilikos Valley to the territory of the Amathus polity and assesses the chronological and topographical evolution of settlement patterns both at the sub-regional and regional levels throughout the Iron Age. On the evidence of social inequalities as manifested by the available material record, further associations are established between Kalavasos in the Vasilikos Valley and the area of Limassol, both within the periphery of Amathus, and the capital centre. It is suggested that Kalavasos constituted an important locale in the valley and possibly a second-rank district dependent upon Amathus, on a par with Limassol within the hierarchical settlement system of the Amathusian polity during the Cypro-Archaic and Cypro-Classical periods.
in A. Cannavo and L. Thély (eds), Les royaumes de Chypre à l’épreuve de l’histoire. Transitions et ruptures de la fin de l’âge du Bronze au début de l’époque hellénistique, Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique Supplément 60, 49-65, 2018
in V. Vlachou and Α. Gadolou (eds), ΤΕΡΨΙΣ. Studies on Mediterranean Archaeology in honour of Nota Kourou, Etudes d’Archéologie 10, Brussels, CReA-Patrimoine, 99-112, 2017
in I. Todd (ed.), Vasilikos Valley Project 10, The Field Survey of Vasilikos Valley, Vol. II. Artefacts recovered by the Field Survey, Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology, Vol. LXXI.10, 95-128., 2016
Regional styles in the pottery production of cyprus during the geometric period (11th-8th c. BC) ... more Regional styles in the pottery production of cyprus during the geometric period (11th-8th c. BC) The present article discusses the issue of regional pottery workshops in Cyprus during the Geom et ric period. The detailed analysis of the pottery, which constitutes the principal record for this period, reveals new prospects for the study of the Cypro-Geometric horizon. On the basis of a sound methodology, the identification and definition of the regional character of the pottery production enables us to approach the specific and distinct modes of development of the different regions of the island. In the absence of written sources for the Cypro-Geometric period, such an approach is apt to elucidate the process of the formation of the Cypriot kingdoms of the first millennium BC.
This paper offers an overview on the distribution of Early Iron Age Cypriot ceramic exports both ... more This paper offers an overview on the distribution of Early Iron Age Cypriot ceramic exports both in the Levant and in the Aegean. The typological and stylistic analysis of the corpus of Cypriot ceramics sheds light on the involvement of different production centres into theses exchanges. On the basis of the recognisable Cypriot centres and the repertoire of their exports, this study discloses the diverse but also common distribution networks between the Levant and the Aegean during the Early Iron Age.
This article , based on a study of ceramic material from the different contexts attested in Amath... more This article , based on a study of ceramic material from the different contexts attested in Amathous during the Cypro-Geometric period , aims to define and characterize the local pottery production by indicating the regional elements that evidently differentiate it from the contemporary productions of the other regions of the island.
The transition from the 12th to the 11th century BC in Cyprus constitutes a critical junction tha... more The transition from the 12th to the 11th century BC in Cyprus constitutes a critical junction that marks the close of the Late Bronze Age and the inception of the Early Iron Age. This transformative phase remains poorly known and ill defined, not least because of the remarkable dearth of stratified settlement strata exposed to this day on the island. Recent investigations by the French Archaeological Mission at Kition, within the locality of Bamboula, situated on the northern part of the modern-day town of Larnaca, have brought to light a continuous stratigraphic succession of floor layers spanning from the 13th to the 11th centuries BC, thus marking an exceptional instance on an island-wide basis. The aim of this contribution is to provide a comprehensive presentation of the stratigraphic, architectural and artefactual remains exposed at Kition-Bamboula that provide crucial new data for the transitional 12th-to-11th century BC horizon. In particular, through the contextual analysis of well-stratified pottery remains, the study aims to discuss the transformations observed on the island’s ceramic repertoire and especially as regards the impact of the endorsement of wheel-made technology for the production of ceramic finewares. The study will also elucidate the extra-insular connections maintained by the cosmopolitan harbour town at Kition, based on the analysis of the plethora of Levantine maritime transport amphorae contained within the settlement’s pertinent levels. Finally, this presentation will discuss a series of idiosyncratic phenomena, such as infant jar-burials and purple-dye production, dating to the settlement’s transitional phases of the 12th and 11th centuries BC. Ultimately, our contribution aspires to shed light on the continuities and changes observed on the Cypriot material culture and the transformative capacities of the island’s communities at the dawn of the Early Iron Age.
The transition from the 12th to the 11th century BC in Cyprus constitutes a critical junction tha... more The transition from the 12th to the 11th century BC in Cyprus constitutes a critical junction that marks the close of the Late Bronze Age and the inception of the Early Iron Age. This transformative phase remains poorly known and ill defined, not least because of the remarkable dearth of stratified settlement strata exposed to this day on the island. Recent investigations by the French Archaeological Mission at Kition, within the locality of Bamboula, situated on the northern part of the modern-day town of Larnaca, have brought to light a continuous stratigraphic succession of floor layers spanning from the 13th to the 11th centuries BC, thus marking an exceptional instance on an island-wide basis. The aim of this contribution is to provide a comprehensive presentation of the stratigraphic, architectural and artefactual remains exposed at Kition-Bamboula that provide crucial new data for the transitional 12th-to-11th century BC horizon. In particular, through the contextual analysis of well-stratified pottery remains, the study aims to discuss the transformations observed on the island’s ceramic repertoire and especially as regards the impact of the endorsement of wheel-made technology for the production of ceramic finewares. The study will also elucidate the extra-insular connections maintained by the cosmopolitan harbour town at Kition, based on the analysis of the plethora of Levantine maritime transport amphorae contained within the settlement’s pertinent levels. Finally, this presentation will discuss a series of idiosyncratic phenomena, such as infant jar-burials and purple-dye production, dating to the settlement’s transitional phases of the 12th and 11th centuries BC. Ultimately, our contribution aspires to shed light on the continuities and changes observed on the Cypriot material culture and the transformative capacities of the island’s communities at the dawn of the Early Iron Age.
Excavations at Tel Dor, a Phoenician site on the northern coast of Israel, produced one of the mo... more Excavations at Tel Dor, a Phoenician site on the northern coast of Israel, produced one of the most varied and best-stratified assemblages of Cypriot Iron Age ceramics ever found outside Cyprus. A long-term investigation of the nature of socio-economic liaisons between Dor and Cyprus, inter alia, by identifying through ceramic typology and petrography the specific Cypriot production centres that sent their products to Dor is currently in progress. This paper focuses on the analytical identification of production centres first suggested by macroscopic observations; temporal trajectories and cultural implications are addressed only preliminarily. The results indicate that the Cypriot vessels that reached Dor were only produced at Salamis, Kition, Amathus and Paphos, and that the vista of imports at Dor keeps changing throughout the period under consideration. This is the most comprehensive analytical study of Cypriot Iron Age ceramic fabrics to date. It has the potential to build a foundation for provenance studies of Cypriot Iron Age ceramic fabrics and the interconnections they embody. It is constrained, however, by the fact it was mainly production centres represented at Dor that were studied.
Au debut de l’âge du Fer chypriote, la nouvelle topographie qui marque l’ile est representee par ... more Au debut de l’âge du Fer chypriote, la nouvelle topographie qui marque l’ile est representee par des sites identifies notamment grâce a la decouverte de necropoles, alors que la mise au jour des contextes d’habitat et de sanctuaires fait defaut. A ce desequilibre de la documentation s’ajoute l’absence de sources ecrites, ce qui rend difficile l’apprehension des contextes culturel et historique de l’epoque chypro-geometrique. Cela n’est cependant pas le cas pour la periode chypro-archaique : les inscriptions royales assyriennes nous renseignent que l’ile etait divisee en royaumes dont l’existence est egalement corroboree par d’autres manifestations culturelles. Dans ce cadre s’insere l’etude de vastes assemblages ceramiques, qui constituent par ailleurs la donnee archeologique la plus abondante, provenant des contextes funeraires a l’echelle de l’ile (Paphos, Kourion, Amathonte, Kition, Lapithos, Kythrea, Alaas, Salamine) dans le but d’identifier l’existence d’ateliers regionaux. Grâ...
Archaeological survey methods combined with geophysical reconnaissance and test excavations offer... more Archaeological survey methods combined with geophysical reconnaissance and test excavations offer systematic ways to shed light on ancient landscapes and settlements in regions considered passive “backwaters” on the edges of more well-known states or urban configurations. For the island of Cyprus, such rural places developing during the Iron Age (ca. 11th–4th centuries b.c.) are understudied, despite evidence for diverse and complex regional occupation patterns. This paper presents preliminary results of investigations in the Vasilikos and Maroni River valleys of south-central Cyprus and discusses the archaeological traces of emerging small-scale communities on the eastern edges of the polity of Amathus. Recent work incorporating legacy data reveals not only diverse taphonomies of rural landscapes, but also heterogeneous activities marked by investment in rural commodities, as well as by ritual and mortuary practices. Such investigations allow archaeologists to reassess assumptions ...
Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome
During recent excavations of the French Archaeological Mission at Kition-Bamboula, in modern day ... more During recent excavations of the French Archaeological Mission at Kition-Bamboula, in modern day Larnaka, Cyprus, an infant jar burial was discovered. It was found under a floor layer in a domestic context, and is dated to the beginning of the Late Cypriot IIIB period (end of the 12th– early 11th century BC). This jar burial is part of a series which seems to be attested, at least in the present state of documentation, only in eastern Cyprus (Enkomi, Salamis and, on a lesser scale, Kition) during a period that spans the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age. The Kition-Bamboula jar burial is notable for its wealth (jewellery, vase offerings, and food deposit). This article proposes a detailed and multidisciplinary study of the burial, as well as a comprehensive consideration of the treatment of infants’ dead bodies in Early Iron Age Cyprus.
Levant The Journal of the Council for British Research in the Levant, 2021
Phoenician site on the northern coast of Israel, produced one of the most varied and best-stratif... more Phoenician site on the northern coast of Israel, produced one of the most varied and best-stratified assemblages of Cypriot Iron Age ceramics ever found outside Cyprus. A long-term investigation of the nature of socioeconomic liaisons between Dor and Cyprus, inter alia, by identifying through ceramic typology and petrography the specific Cypriot production centres that sent their products to Dor is currently in progress. This paper focuses on the analytical identification of production centres first suggested by macroscopic observations; temporal trajectories and cultural implications are addressed only preliminarily. The results indicate that the Cypriot vessels that reached Dor were only produced at Salamis, Kition, Amathus and Paphos, and that the vista of imports at Dor keeps changing throughout the period under consideration. This is the most comprehensive analytical study of Cypriot Iron Age ceramic fabrics to date. It has the potential to build a foundation for provenance stu...
in L. Hulin, L. Crewe, and J. Webb (eds), Structures of Inequality on Bronze Age Cyprus. Studies in honour of Alison South, Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology, Åström Editions, Nicosia, 155-167., 2018
The territorial organisation of the Cypriot Iron Age polities and the relations between their cen... more The territorial organisation of the Cypriot Iron Age polities and the relations between their centres and peripheries have met with renewed interest in modern scholarship. The field survey of the Vasilikos Valley Project offers a valuable source of information on the Iron Age occupation of the Vasilikos Valley that makes it an interesting case-study for examining a hinterland district in its regional cultural and politico-economic context. By focusing on the material culture, this chapter assigns the Vasilikos Valley to the territory of the Amathus polity and assesses the chronological and topographical evolution of settlement patterns both at the sub-regional and regional levels throughout the Iron Age. On the evidence of social inequalities as manifested by the available material record, further associations are established between Kalavasos in the Vasilikos Valley and the area of Limassol, both within the periphery of Amathus, and the capital centre. It is suggested that Kalavasos constituted an important locale in the valley and possibly a second-rank district dependent upon Amathus, on a par with Limassol within the hierarchical settlement system of the Amathusian polity during the Cypro-Archaic and Cypro-Classical periods.
in A. Cannavo and L. Thély (eds), Les royaumes de Chypre à l’épreuve de l’histoire. Transitions et ruptures de la fin de l’âge du Bronze au début de l’époque hellénistique, Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique Supplément 60, 49-65, 2018
in V. Vlachou and Α. Gadolou (eds), ΤΕΡΨΙΣ. Studies on Mediterranean Archaeology in honour of Nota Kourou, Etudes d’Archéologie 10, Brussels, CReA-Patrimoine, 99-112, 2017
in I. Todd (ed.), Vasilikos Valley Project 10, The Field Survey of Vasilikos Valley, Vol. II. Artefacts recovered by the Field Survey, Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology, Vol. LXXI.10, 95-128., 2016
The Topography of Ancient Idalion and its Territory, 2024
The question of how to define the territories of the ancient polities (city-kingdoms) of Iron Age... more The question of how to define the territories of the ancient polities (city-kingdoms) of Iron Age Cyprus is a fascinating, but also a very difficult one. While this topic has already been widely explored by previous scholarship, recent investigations that include both modern approaches, such as the application of landscape archaeological methodologies, as well as a re-evaluation of the available archaeological evidence from a new perspective, now offers a fresh take on such questions. A workshop organized in Berlin in 2018 aimed at discussing additional information on the topography of the ancient city of Idalion and its hinterland. This volume therefore includes unique contributions that deal with a wide array of relevant aspects. They provide new information on the location, chronology and character of settlements, necropoleis and sanctuaries from the wider area of Idalion, and discuss important issues such as the continuity or discontinuity of settlement activities from the (Late) Bronze Age to the Iron Age and how this is reflected by material culture. They address questions concerned with the physical control of territories and communication networks by considering Idalion’s resource availability and the overall development of its rural settlement pattern in contrast to that of its neighbouring polities.
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A workshop organized in Berlin in 2018 aimed at discussing additional information on the topography of the ancient city of Idalion and its hinterland. This volume therefore includes unique contributions that deal with a wide array of relevant aspects. They provide new information on the location, chronology and character of settlements, necropoleis and sanctuaries from the wider area of Idalion, and discuss important issues such as the continuity or discontinuity of settlement activities from the (Late) Bronze Age to the Iron Age and how this is reflected by material culture. They address questions concerned with the physical control of territories and communication networks by considering Idalion’s resource availability and the overall development of its rural settlement pattern in contrast to that of its neighbouring polities.