Glossary Architecture and settlements
Ashlar
Also called: ashlar masonry
Masonry of stone blocks cut and dressed square, laid in regular courses with fine joints.
Ashlar appears in Cyprus in the Late Bronze Age, in the thirteenth century BCE, and marks the island's grandest buildings: the Ashlar Building at Enkomi, Building X at Kalavasos-Ayios Dhimitrios, and monumental buildings at Maroni and Kition. The technique links Cyprus with Ugarit and the Levant, where dressed stone was used for palaces and elite houses. In the Iron Age ashlar reappears in royal tombs, temples and city walls, often as a facing over a core of rubble. See architecture.
Related terms
- Built tomb
A tomb constructed of masonry, usually of dressed stone blocks, instead of being simply cut into the bedrock.
- Mudbrick
A building brick of clay mixed with straw or other temper, shaped in a mould or by hand and dried in the sun without firing.
- Settlement hierarchy
A ranking of settlements by size and function, from towns down to villages and hamlets, within one region or state.
Where it appears
- Ashlar Masonry
- Late Bronze Age Towns and Buildings
- Royal and Built Tombs
- Bronze Age Sanctuaries and Temples
- Iron Age Cities and Palaces
- Architectural Transformations in Ancient Cyprus
- Bronze Age Chamber Tombs
- Building Materials and Techniques
- Earthquakes in Ancient Cyprus
- Fortifications in Ancient Cyprus: From Khirokitia to the Siege of Paphos
- Seafaring and Ships in Ancient Cyprus
- Food Storage in Ancient Cyprus: Pits, Pithoi and Storerooms
and 18 more compendium pages