Period
Neolithic
c. 9000–4000/3900 BCE
The period c. 9000–3900 BCE in which farmers from the mainland settled Cyprus, built villages of circular houses, and later adopted pottery.
Read the full overview of the Neolithic →
26 entries in 8 sections
Pottery
6 entriesSection overview
Combed WareThe red-slipped pottery of the Cypriot Ceramic Neolithic whose slip was scraped with a comb-like tool while wet to expose pale bands, c. 4500–3900 BCE.Neolithic
Red-on-White WareRed-on-White is the hand-built painted pottery of Chalcolithic Cyprus, with red geometric patterns on a pale marl or slipped ground.NeolithicChalcolithic
BowlsThe open vessel deeper than a plate and without a pouring neck, the one Cypriot pottery shape made without a break from the Neolithic to the Iron Age.NeolithicChalcolithicEarly Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
Motifs of Cypriot PotterySectionThe recurring patterns and figures painted, incised or modelled on Cypriot pottery, from Neolithic combing to the Cypro-Archaic free-field style.NeolithicChalcolithicEarly Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
The Pottery of Ancient CyprusSectionThe pottery made and used in Cyprus from the Ceramic Neolithic onward, the island's most abundant artifact class and the basis of its chronology.NeolithicChalcolithicEarly Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-ClassicalHellenisticRoman
Types of WareSectionThe families of Cypriot pottery, grouped by clay, surface finish and decoration, from Neolithic Combed ware to Iron Age Black-on-Red.NeolithicChalcolithicEarly Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Statues
3 entriesSection overview
How Cypriot Figurines Are ClassifiedThe overlapping systems that classify Cypriot figurines and statues, from Winkelmann's N and C numbers to Karageorghis's Coroplastic Art and Gjerstad's styles.NeolithicChalcolithicEarly Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic- Neolithic and Picrolite FigurinesThe small, mostly stone and rarely sexed human figures of Neolithic Cyprus, and the early use of picrolite that precedes the Chalcolithic cruciforms.NeolithicChalcolithic
The Statues of Ancient CyprusSectionThe statues and figurines of ancient Cyprus, in stone, clay and metal, from Neolithic pebble figures to Hellenistic and Roman limestone votives.NeolithicChalcolithicEarly Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-ClassicalHellenisticRoman
Weapons and Armour
2 entriesSection overview
Fortifications in Ancient Cyprus: From Khirokitia to the Siege of PaphosThe walls, forts and enclosures Cypriots built in a few distinct episodes, from Aceramic Khirokitia to the city walls of the Iron Age kingdoms.NeolithicMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Weapons and Armour of Ancient CyprusSectionThe weapons, armour and fortifications of ancient Cyprus, from Neolithic projectile points to the iron swords and war imagery of the Iron Age kingdoms.NeolithicChalcolithicEarly Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
Tools and Technologies
3 entriesSection overview
Seafaring and Ships in Ancient CyprusThe evidence for boats and seafaring around Cyprus from the first crossings to the Classical period, from anchors, models and graffiti to wrecks and shipsheds.NeolithicEarly Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Spindle Whorls and Textile Tools in Ancient CyprusThe tools of spinning, weaving and dyeing in ancient Cyprus, from Neolithic bone needles to the terracotta whorls and loom weights of the Bronze Age.NeolithicChalcolithicEarly Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze Age
Tools and Technologies of Ancient CyprusSectionThe crafts and technologies of ancient Cyprus, from Neolithic stone and bone toolkits through copper metallurgy and the potter's wheel to early iron.NeolithicChalcolithicEarly Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-Geometric
Architecture
1 entrySection overview
Mortuary Practices
2 entriesSection overview
- Neolithic and Chalcolithic Burial in CyprusBurial on Cyprus from the first farming villages to the eve of the Bronze Age, mostly contracted bodies in pits beneath or beside houses.NeolithicChalcolithic
Society, Ritual, and Identity in Ancient Cypriot Mortuary PracticeSectionHow the people of ancient Cyprus buried and remembered their dead, from graves beneath Neolithic houses to rock-cut chamber tombs and Iron Age royal tombs.NeolithicChalcolithicEarly Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-Geometric
Daily Life
7 entriesSection overview
- Clothing and Dress in Ancient CyprusWhat Cypriots wore from the Neolithic to the Cypro-Classical period, reconstructed from figurines, statues, textile tools and metal fasteners.NeolithicChalcolithicEarly Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Food and Diet in Ancient CyprusWhat Cypriots grew, herded, hunted, cooked and drank from the first Neolithic villages to the end of the Cypro-Archaic period.NeolithicChalcolithicEarly Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
Food Storage in Ancient Cyprus: Pits, Pithoi and StoreroomsHow Cypriots stored grain, oil and wine, from Chalcolithic pits and household jars to the great pithos halls of the Late Bronze Age towns.NeolithicChalcolithicEarly Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
Furniture in Ancient CyprusHow Cypriots sat, slept and stored goods from the Neolithic to the Archaic kingdoms, known almost entirely from built benches, clay models, seals and royal tombs.NeolithicChalcolithicEarly Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-Archaic
Medicine and Healing in Ancient CyprusDisease, drugs, doctors and healing cults in ancient Cyprus, from Neolithic skeletons to the physician Onasilos of Idalion in the early fifth century BCE.NeolithicLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical- Population and Demography in Ancient CyprusThe methods and published estimates for how many people lived in ancient Cyprus, from Neolithic Khirokitia to the Classical kingdoms, where every figure is a model.NeolithicChalcolithicMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
- Subsistence, Craft, and Community in Prehistoric and Archaic CyprusSectionHow ordinary Cypriots farmed, herded, cooked, built houses and made pots, tools and cloth from the Neolithic to the Cypro-Archaic period.NeolithicChalcolithicEarly Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-Archaic
Environment
2 entriesSection overview
Birds in Ancient CyprusThe birds of ancient Cyprus, known from hunted bones at the earliest sites and from birds modelled, painted and carved in Bronze and Iron Age art.Cyprus Before HumansNeolithicEarly Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Climate and Landscape in Ancient CyprusWhat the island's own records show about sea level, coasts, rainfall and forests in Cyprus from the first farmers to the Hellenistic period.NeolithicLate Bronze AgeHellenistic