Glossary

Collecting and the antiquities tradeThe 1970 international treaty on preventing the illicit import, export and transfer of cultural property; its year is the trade's usual provenance benchmark.

Archaeological method and datingA chronology expressed in calendar years (BCE, CE or years before present), fixed by scientific dating or by links to written history.

Architecture and settlementsThe high, often fortified part of an ancient city, holding its main temples or palace; from the Greek for 'upper city'.

Society, writing and tradeThe sea between Greece and Turkey and the lands around it, including Crete, the Cyclades and mainland Greece, home of the Minoans and Mycenaeans.

Society, writing and tradeA copper-rich Late Bronze Age kingdom named in Near Eastern texts and widely identified with all or part of Cyprus.

Religion and cultA raised structure or block on which offerings were burnt or laid for a god, the focus of ritual in a sanctuary.

Society, writing and tradeDiplomatic letters on clay tablets, mostly in Akkadian cuneiform, found at Akhenaten's capital of el-Amarna in Egypt and dating to the mid-fourteenth century BCE.

Collecting and the antiquities tradeThe Cypriot statute governing excavation, ownership, dealing and export of antiquities, first enacted in 1905 and recast in 1935.

Religion and cult'Apollo of the Woodland', the god of a major rural sanctuary west of Kourion, worshipped from the Iron Age into Roman times.

Religion and cultMeant to turn away evil or harm; said of amulets, images and signs thought to protect the person who wore or owned them.

Society, writing and tradeThe group of ancient Greek dialects shared by Arcadia in the Peloponnese and by Cyprus, and the form of Greek written in the Cypriot Syllabary.

Archaeological method and datingThe exact place and circumstances in which an object was found, including its layer and associated finds, which give it most of its value as evidence.

Archaeological method and datingSystematic searching of the landscape for traces of past activity, usually by walking fields and recording surface finds, without excavating.

Archaeological method and datingThe use of physical and chemical science to analyse archaeological materials: their date, composition, source and manufacturing technique.

Architecture and settlementsMasonry of stone blocks cut and dressed square, laid in regular courses with fine joints.

Pottery and vesselsA closed pouring vessel with an off-centre spout and a handle over the top, often shaped like an animal or bird.

Archaeological method and datingA group of objects found together in one context, such as a tomb, pit or floor, and studied as a set.

Religion and cultA Phoenician goddess associated with love, fertility and war, worshipped in Iron Age Cyprus at Kition, Tamassos and elsewhere.

Society, writing and tradeThe Greek word for 'king', used for the rulers of the Cypriot city-kingdoms; the plural is basileis.

Pottery and vesselsAn Early and Middle Bronze Age Cypriot ware like Red Polished in shape and finish but fired black all over, made in much smaller numbers.

Pottery and vesselsA Middle and Late Cypriot ware with a dark slip over a light clay, mostly incised juglets; the name was later reused for Iron Age classes too.

Pottery and vesselsA Late Cypriot ware of jugs whose bodies are covered in close vertical ribs or grooves, made in handmade and wheelmade versions.

Tombs and burialA tomb constructed of masonry, usually of dressed stone blocks, instead of being simply cut into the bedrock.

Pottery and vesselsRubbing the surface of an unfired pot with a smooth pebble, bone or tool to compact the clay and give it a sheen after firing.

Archaeological method and datingA radiocarbon result converted into calendar years using a calibration curve, usually written cal BC, cal BCE or cal BP.

Pottery and vesselsA sharp angle in the profile of a vessel where the wall changes direction, as in a bowl or cup with a distinct shoulder.

Tombs and burialA tomb or monument built in memory of someone whose body is not buried in it.

Archaeological method and datingFrench for 'operational sequence': the full chain of steps in making an object, from choosing raw materials to finishing and firing.

Metals, materials and technologyA soft, fine-grained white limestone, widespread in the Lefkara Formation of Cyprus and easy to carve into moulds, figures and statues.

Religion and cultOf the earth or the underworld; used of gods, cults and rites concerned with the dead and with what lies below the ground.

Society, writing and tradeOne of the small independent kingdoms, each ruled from a city, into which Iron Age Cyprus was divided until about 310 BCE.

Pottery and vesselsEveryday pottery made from gritty, heavily tempered clay, mostly cooking pots and storage vessels with little or no decoration.

Pottery and vesselsBuilding the walls of a pot from rolls of clay laid one on another in rings or a spiral, then pressed together and smoothed.

Tombs and burialThe use of one tomb for many burials made over years or generations, typically by a family or kin group.

Tombs and burialA burial in which the body was laid with the knees drawn up towards the chest, usually lying on its side.

Sculpture, figurines and artA maker of terracotta figurines; coroplastic art is the modelling of figures in fired clay, the largest class of Cypriot figurative art.

Metals, materials and technologyA small heat-resistant clay vessel in which metal, or sometimes ore, was heated until molten and then poured into a mould.

Religion and cultThe statue or object that stood for a god in a sanctuary and received worship, as distinct from the offerings brought to it.

Pottery and vesselsA jug mouth whose neck is cut away at a slant at the front, rising to a point like a beak, so that liquid pours from the tip.

Society, writing and tradeA small engraved stone cylinder that, rolled across wet clay, leaves a continuous impression; used to mark ownership and authority.

Sculpture, figurines and artGjerstad's name for Cypriot sculpture from about 540 BCE onwards that engages closely with Greek art while keeping local forms and materials.

Collecting and the antiquities tradeThe formal removal of an object from a museum's permanent collection, usually followed by its sale, exchange or transfer.

Collecting and the antiquities tradeThe government body responsible for the archaeology, museums and ancient monuments of Cyprus, created by the Antiquities Law of 1935.

Sculpture, figurines and artThe Egyptian royal crown combining the white crown of Upper Egypt with the red crown of Lower Egypt, copied on some Cypriot statues.

Tombs and burialThe passage, often sloping or stepped, cut into the ground or rock to reach the doorway of a chamber tomb.

Sculpture, figurines and artBorrowing the look of Egyptian art (dress, poses, crowns and motifs) in objects made outside Egypt, often through Phoenician intermediaries.

Society, writing and tradeA Greek term for a trading post or market town where foreign merchants did business, often inside an existing settlement.

Society, writing and tradeAn Assyrian clay prism inscription of 673/2 BCE naming ten kings of Cyprus: the only complete ancient list of the island's kingdoms.

Collecting and the antiquities tradeAn official permit allowing an antiquity to leave its country of origin; in Cyprus, issued by the Department of Antiquities from 1935.

Religion and cultA sanctuary set in the countryside away from the main town, often on a boundary or route within a kingdom's territory.

Pottery and vesselsThe fired clay body of a pot as seen in a fresh break: its colour, hardness, texture and the grains and particles it contains.

Archaeological method and datingA distinctive set of material culture found together in one region or period, a more neutral label than 'culture' or 'people'.

Religion and cultA pit dug in or near a sanctuary to bury old or broken votives, which remained the god's property and could not be thrown away.

Collecting and the antiquities tradeThe place where an object was found, recorded at anything from village level to an exact position in a tomb or trench.

Pottery and vesselsPottery made with care from well-prepared clay, with thin walls and finished or decorated surfaces, mainly for serving, drinking and display.

Collecting and the antiquities tradeAn Ottoman imperial decree; in nineteenth-century Cyprus, the personal permit that let a foreigner excavate and sometimes export the finds.

Archaeological method and datingLatin for 'it flourished': the period when a person, workshop, style or object type was most active or most common.

Tombs and burialEating and drinking by mourners at a funeral, known from animal bones and serving vessels left in or beside tombs.

Metals, materials and technologyThe rust-red and yellow crust of iron oxides that forms where a buried sulphide ore body weathers at the surface.

Tombs and burialObjects placed with the dead at burial, such as pots, tools, weapons, jewellery and food.

Religion and cultA modern name for the chief goddess of Palaepaphos, and for a single prehistoric mother goddess that many scholars now doubt.

Metals, materials and technologyA soft white or translucent mineral (calcium sulphate), found in thick beds in southern Cyprus and occasionally carved into objects.

Pottery and vesselsMade without a potter's wheel, by pinching, coiling, joining slabs or modelling the clay directly with the hands and simple tools.

Archaeological method and datingA level or span of time marked by the same event or type of material across many sites, such as a destruction horizon or a pottery horizon.

Religion and cultA bronze statue of a young god in a horned cap, found in a twelfth-century BCE sanctuary at Enkomi and now in the Cyprus Museum.

Society, writing and tradeA bronze plaque of the fifth century BCE from Idalion, the longest known text in the Cypriot Syllabary, recording a king's contract with a physician.

Archaeological method and datingLatin for 'in place': describes an object or structure found in the position where it was left in antiquity, undisturbed since.

Pottery and vesselsLines or patterns cut into a surface with a sharp point; on pottery this is usually done before firing, while the clay is still soft.

Religion and cultA bronze statuette of an armed god in a horned helmet, standing on a base shaped like an oxhide copper ingot, from Late Bronze Age Enkomi.

Tombs and burialBurial of an unburnt body in the ground or in a tomb, as opposed to cremation, in which the body is burnt.

Tombs and burialInside (intramural) or outside (extramural) a settlement or its walls; used above all of where the dead were buried.

Tombs and burialThe burial of an infant or young child inside a pottery jar, often a reused storage or transport jar.

Sculpture, figurines and artA knee-length wrapped skirt of Egyptian origin, pleated and often with a decorated front panel, worn by many Cypriot limestone votaries.

Society, writing and tradeA common culture, style or language shared across several regions; from the Greek word for 'common'.

Sculpture, figurines and artA Greek Archaic statue of a standing, clothed young woman (plural korai), a type Cypriot sculptors followed from the late sixth century BCE.

Pottery and vesselsA large, wide-mouthed bowl or jar used for mixing wine with water before serving, usually with two handles.

Pottery and vesselsA shallow, two-handled drinking cup set on a stem and foot, a Greek shape that Cypriot potters also made.

Collecting and the antiquities tradeA small lead seal wired to an antiquity by the Cypriot authorities to mark it as approved for lawful export.

Archaeological method and datingA method that matches metal objects to ore sources by comparing the ratios of lead isotopes, which differ from one ore deposit to another.

Pottery and vesselsThe stage in drying when clay is firm enough to hold its shape but still damp enough to be trimmed, joined, incised or burnished.

Society, writing and tradeThe lands along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, roughly modern Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and Jordan, facing Cyprus to the east.

Pottery and vesselsRefining clay by stirring it in water, letting the coarse particles sink and drawing off the fine clay that stays suspended.

Religion and cultA ritual pouring of a liquid, such as wine, oil, milk or water, as an offering to a god or to the dead.

Collecting and the antiquities tradeA trader authorised by the Cyprus Department of Antiquities to buy and sell antiquities, a lawful role from 1935 until dealing was banned in 1996.

Society, writing and tradeThe undeciphered script of Minoan Crete, used from about 1800 to 1450 BCE, to which the Cypro-Minoan script of Cyprus is most closely related.

Society, writing and tradeThe syllabic script of the Mycenaean palaces, used to write an early form of Greek on clay tablets and deciphered by Michael Ventris in 1952.

Metals, materials and technologyA casting method in which a wax model is coated in clay, the wax is melted out, and molten metal is poured into the hollow left behind.

Pottery and vesselsA small knob or tab of clay on the wall or rim of a vessel, used for gripping, for tying on a cover or, when pierced, for hanging.

Pottery and vesselsPaint that fires to a dull, non-glossy finish, used on most Cypriot painted pottery from the Bronze Age into the Iron Age.

Architecture and settlementsA large rectangular hall entered through a porch, with a central hearth; the main room of a Mycenaean palace.

Pottery and vesselsA name used for several unrelated classes of plain, single-coloured pottery, from Neolithic Cyprus, Late Bronze Age Cyprus and Philistia.

Sculpture, figurines and artMade by pressing clay into a hollow mould, so that many near-identical figures, faces, lamps or bricks could be produced from one master.

Architecture and settlementsA building brick of clay mixed with straw or other temper, shaped in a mould or by hand and dried in the sun without firing.

Collecting and the antiquities tradeObjects judged surplus to a museum because it held similar examples; the Cyprus Museum sold such duplicates to the public until 1991.

Metals, materials and technologyCopper that occurs naturally as metal in the ground and can be shaped by hammering, with no smelting needed.

Tombs and burialA large cemetery, especially the burial ground of an ancient town, usually set apart from the settlement itself.

Sculpture, figurines and artOne of Einar Gjerstad's style groups for Cypro-Archaic sculpture, following the Proto-Cypriote and dated in his scheme to about 560–520 BCE.

Archaeological method and datingA chemical technique that measures dozens of trace elements in a small sample, used above all to group pottery by clay source.

Society, writing and tradeA long metal roasting spit, often found in sets in rich Iron Age tombs (plural obeloi); the Greek coin name obol derives from it.

Pottery and vesselsThe basic division of vessel forms: open shapes have a mouth as wide as the body, closed shapes narrow to a neck or small opening.

Religion and cultA sanctuary laid out as an open walled court with an altar and offerings, the usual form of Cypriot cult place in the Iron Age.

Metals, materials and technologyRock containing enough metal to be worth mining and smelting; Cypriot copper ore is mostly chalcopyrite, a copper-iron sulphide.

Metals, materials and technologyA flat copper slab with four projecting handles, weighing about 24–30 kg: the standard form in which Late Bronze Age Cyprus exported copper.

Collecting and the antiquities tradeThe division of excavated finds between the host country and the excavators, the system by which many Cypriot antiquities lawfully went abroad.

Archaeological method and datingCodes such as MC III, LC IIC or CA II that divide each Cypriot period into numbered phases and lettered subphases for finer dating.

Archaeological method and datingExamining a thin slice of pottery or stone under a polarising microscope to identify its minerals and so where its clay or stone came from.

Metals, materials and technologyA soft blue-green stone, a variety of serpentinite from the Troodos, carved into pendants, beads and figurines in prehistoric Cyprus.

Metals, materials and technologyRounded, pillow-shaped masses of lava formed when molten rock erupts under the sea; in the Troodos they host the copper ores.

Pottery and vesselsPear-shaped: a vessel body widest near the shoulder and tapering towards a narrow base, a term used especially for Mycenaean jars.

Architecture and settlementsWalling of damp earth packed or moulded in place without bricks, used in early Cyprus for walls, benches, hearths and floors.

Tombs and burialA simple grave dug as a hole in the ground, usually for one body; the normal form of burial in Neolithic and Chalcolithic Cyprus.

Architecture and settlementsA general word for an independent political unit, such as a kingdom, chiefdom or city-state, used when its exact form is uncertain.

Pottery and vesselsA turntable on which a pot is shaped as it rotates; a slow wheel or tournette helps finish a pot, while a fast wheel can throw one from a lump of clay.

Society, writing and tradeRare or costly objects whose value lay in the status they conferred, used by leaders to display rank and build alliances.

Sculpture, figurines and artThe earliest of Einar Gjerstad's style groups for Cypro-Archaic sculpture, dated in his scheme to about the late seventh and early sixth centuries BCE.

Archaeological method and datingThe precise find-spot of an excavated object, recorded by site, layer and position; in this usage kept distinct from provenance, its ownership history.

Pottery and vesselsA small lidded box or jar, often cylindrical, used to hold cosmetics, jewellery or other small valuables.

Archaeological method and datingA scientific method that dates once-living material such as charcoal, seeds and bone by measuring the decay of the carbon-14 it contains.

Pottery and vesselsA Late Bronze Age wheelmade ware with a glossy red surface, best known for tall spindle bottles, arm-shaped vessels and flasks.

Pottery and vesselsA name given to several red-slipped Cypriot wares: a Middle and Late Bronze Age ware, an Iron Age class, and a Roman fine ware.

Pottery and vesselsFiring pottery where oxygen is scarce, which turns iron-bearing clay grey or black; with plenty of air (oxidising) the same clay fires red or buff.

Archaeological method and datingAn ordering of sites, layers or objects as earlier or later than one another, without fixing them to calendar years.

Sculpture, figurines and artDecoration that projects from a flat background, either carved in stone or modelled and applied in clay, in contrast to painted or incised work.

Pottery and vesselsRaised decoration on a pot, made by adding strips, pellets or modelled figures of clay to the surface or by pinching the wall outwards.

Collecting and the antiquities tradeThe return of cultural objects to their country or community of origin, whether through legal action, negotiation or a voluntary gift.

Religion and cultA Canaanite and Phoenician god of plague, war and protection, worshipped in Iron Age Cyprus and equated there with Apollo.

Archaeological method and datingChemical identification of traces of food, drink, oils, resins or drugs absorbed into or left on the inside of ancient vessels.

Pottery and vesselsA vessel with an opening at both ends, often in the form of an animal head or horn, thought to have been used for pouring liquid offerings.

Pottery and vesselsA low ring of clay on the underside of a vessel on which it stands, in place of a flat, rounded or pointed base.

Tombs and burialThe monumental built tombs of the Iron Age kings and elite of Cyprus, best known at Salamis, where horses were killed at the funeral.

Sculpture, figurines and artAn amulet or seal carved in the shape of a dung beetle, sacred in Egypt, with a design or inscription cut into its flat underside.

Tombs and burialA burial in which bones are moved from where the body was first laid and reburied or rearranged, usually after the flesh had decayed.

Archaeological method and datingA relative dating method that arranges groups of finds in sequence according to how the popularity of their types rises and falls.

Architecture and settlementsA ranking of settlements by size and function, from towns down to villages and hamlets, within one region or state.

Tombs and burialA grave cut straight down into the ground or rock as a deep, narrow shaft, usually for one or a few bodies and without a dromos.

Pottery and vesselsA broken piece of pottery; most of the pottery found on excavations and surveys is recovered as sherds.

Architecture and settlementsA ramp of earth and stones heaped against a city wall by attackers; in Cyprus, the Persian mound at Palaepaphos of 498 BCE.

Metals, materials and technologyThe glassy waste left when ore is smelted: the rock and impurities that separate from the molten metal in the furnace.

Pottery and vesselsA thin coat of fine clay mixed with water, brushed or dipped over a pot before firing to give it a smoother surface and a different colour.

Metals, materials and technologyHeating ore with a fuel such as charcoal until the metal separates from the rock, leaving a waste called slag behind.

Sculpture, figurines and artA mythical creature with a lion's body and a human head, usually winged in Cypriot and Near Eastern art, used as a guardian and royal emblem.

Pottery and vesselsA closed jar with a solid false neck on top, bridged by two handles like a stirrup, and a separate spout on the shoulder for pouring oil.

Tombs and burialThe low doorway between the dromos and the burial chamber of a rock-cut tomb, closed with a slab or stones after each burial.

Archaeological method and datingThe study of the layers in which archaeological remains were deposited, used to work out which came first and what belongs together.

Archaeological method and datingA single layer of deposit on an archaeological site, usually numbered by the excavator; the plural is strata.

Pottery and vesselsA small hole pierced through a lug, rim or projection on a pot so it could be hung up or have a cover tied on with a cord.

Society, writing and tradeA writing system whose signs each stand for a whole syllable, such as ka, pe or to.

Archaeological method and datingA link showing that two cultures' sequences overlap in time, such as a dated Egyptian object in a Cypriot tomb or a Cypriot pot in a dated foreign layer.

Religion and cultThe merging or equating of gods from different cultures, so that one deity is worshipped under two names or with combined features.

Pottery and vesselsA tall, wide-mouthed jug with a single handle, used for serving or drinking, typical of Middle and early Late Bronze Age Cyprus.

Pottery and vesselsSmall dark juglets with pricked decoration filled with white, made in the Egyptian Delta and the Levant and found in Cypriot tombs of about 1700–1550 BCE.

Religion and cultThe sacred area of a sanctuary, marked off by a wall or boundary, inside which the altar, offerings and any cult buildings stood.

Pottery and vesselsMaterial such as sand, crushed rock, chaff or ground-up pottery that a potter mixes into clay to make it easier to shape and less likely to crack.

Archaeological method and datingLatin for 'limit before which': the latest possible date for an object or deposit, set by a dated event that sealed or followed it.

Archaeological method and datingLatin for 'limit after which': the earliest possible date for a deposit, set by the latest datable object found in it.

Archaeological method and datingA method that dates fired clay by measuring the light it releases when heated, widely used to test whether a pot or terracotta is ancient.

Architecture and settlementsA round building: in Neolithic Cyprus a circular house, and in the Bronze Age Aegean and Cyprus a circular tomb with a vaulted roof.

Pottery and vesselsA jug mouth pinched in from the sides into three lobes, like a clover leaf, making a channel for pouring.

Society, writing and tradeRegular payments of goods, precious metal or services that a subject ruler owed to a more powerful king in return for keeping his throne.

Pottery and vesselsA narrow tube of clay attached to the body or rim of a vessel for pouring, set apart from the vessel's main opening.

Tombs and burialAn artificial mound of earth and stones heaped over a grave or tomb to cover and mark it.

Metals, materials and technologyA clay nozzle set into the wall or top of a furnace so that air from bellows can be blown into the fire to raise its heat.

Archaeological method and datingThe site that gives its name to a culture, ware or phase, or whose finds serve as the standard reference for it.

Archaeological method and datingA system for sorting objects into classes and types by shape, fabric and decoration, so that like can be compared with like and dated.

Society, writing and tradeA merchant ship wrecked off southern Turkey at the very end of the fourteenth century BCE, carrying about ten tons of Cypriot copper.

Collecting and the antiquities tradeDescribes an object whose find-spot is unknown, and often whose earlier ownership history is undocumented as well.

Collecting and the antiquities tradeAn agreement between the United States and Cyprus, first signed in 2002, restricting US imports of designated Cypriot archaeological and Byzantine material.

Archaeological method and datingThe microscopic study of scratches, polish, chipping and abrasion on tools and vessels to work out how they were used.

Sculpture, figurines and artA worshipper shown in a statue or figurine, usually dedicated in a sanctuary to stand before the deity on the donor's behalf.

Religion and cultAn object given to a god in fulfilment of a vow or in hope of favour, and left in a sanctuary as the god's property.

Pottery and vesselsA class of pottery defined by a shared fabric, surface treatment and way of making, such as Red Polished or White Painted ware.

Pottery and vesselsShaped on a rotating potter's wheel, either thrown from a lump of clay or built by hand and then finished on a turning device.

Pottery and vesselsA Late Cypriot handmade ware of slender, pointed-based juglets whose pale surfaces were pared smooth with a knife.

Pottery and vesselsIncised or impressed decoration packed with a white paste, so that the pattern shows up pale against a dark or red surface.

Pottery and vesselsA handle that rises above the rim of a bowl and splits into two prongs, like a wishbone, typical of Late Bronze Age Cypriot bowls.

Archaeological method and datingA usually non-destructive technique that identifies the chemical elements in a surface, often done with a portable (pXRF) instrument.

Archaeological method and datingThe study of animal bones and shells from archaeological sites, used to reconstruct diet, herding, hunting and the ancient environment.