Topic
Chronology and Dating
How archaeologists divide and date the Cypriot past, from pottery sequences and period systems to radiocarbon dates and links with dated neighbours.
26 entries in 4 sections
Pottery
18 entriesSection overview
Neolithic and Chalcolithic WaresThe monochrome and painted wares of Ceramic Neolithic and Chalcolithic Cyprus, c. 5200 to 2400 BCE, before Red Polished pottery of the Bronze Age.NeolithicChalcolithic
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
Red Slip WareRed Slip is the name of three separate Cypriot wares with an all-over red slip, one Middle Cypriot, one Late Cypriot wheelmade and one Iron Age.Middle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
White Slip WareThe hand-made Late Bronze Age tableware with a thick white slip and dark painted decoration, mostly hemispherical bowls, widely exported from Cyprus.Late Bronze Age
White Painted Wheelmade WareThe locally made, wheel-thrown, matt-painted pottery of Aegean inspiration that became the standard Cypriot tableware in Late Cypriot IIC and IIIA.Late Bronze Age
Proto-White Painted WareThe wheel-thrown, matt-painted pottery of Late Cypriot IIIB, c. 1125–1050 BCE, which merged earlier Aegean-style wares and led into Iron Age White Painted I.Late Bronze AgeCypro-Geometric
Iron Age White Painted WareIron Age White Painted is the wheel-made Cypriot pottery painted in matt black or brown on a pale ground, numbered White Painted I to VII from c. 1050 to 310 BCE.Cypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Grey and Black Polished, Stroke Polished and Polychrome WaresGrey and Black Polished, Stroke Polished and Polychrome are minor wheel-made Cypriot wares of the Geometric, Archaic and Classical periods, defined by Gjerstad in 1948.Cypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Hellenistic and Roman Pottery in CyprusCyprus used a succession of slipped fine wares from c. 310 BCE to the 7th century CE, some made on the island and many imported from Syria, Cilicia and Pamphylia.HellenisticRoman
Black Slip WareBlack Slip is the name of two unrelated Cypriot wares, a handmade Middle and early Late Cypriot class and Gjerstad's wheelmade Iron Age class.Early Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical- From Bronze to Iron: Cypriot Pottery c. 1300–950 BCEThe change in Cypriot fine pottery between c. 1300 and 950 BCE, from handmade Base Ring and White Slip to wheelmade White Painted and Bichrome.Late Bronze AgeCypro-Geometric
Jugs and JugletsA one-handled vessel with a neck, the commonest closed shape in Cypriot pottery, made from the start of the Bronze Age to the Cypro-Classical period.Early Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
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
Wavy LinesA continuous line swinging in rounded curves, incised or painted on Cypriot pottery from Early Bronze Age Red Polished to Cypro-Archaic amphorae.Early Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
White Painted StylesThe decorative styles into which scholars divide handmade Bronze Age White Painted pottery, from WP I String-hole to the WP VI Soft Triglyphic Style.Early Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze Age
Statues
1 entrySection overview
Environment
1 entrySection overview
Chronology
6 entriesSection overview
Cyprus Before Humans: Dwarf Hippos, Dwarf Elephants and the First VisitorsPleistocene Cyprus, an oceanic island of dwarf hippos, dwarf elephants, a genet and an endemic mouse, and its first human visitors at Akrotiri-Aetokremnos.Cyprus Before Humans
Early Bronze Age CyprusThe period c. 2500–1950 BCE, from the Philia phase through Early Cypriot I–III, of rectilinear villages, Red Polished pottery and chamber-tomb cemeteries.Early Bronze Age
Middle Bronze Age CyprusThe Middle Cypriot period, c. 1950–1650 BCE, of multi-roomed village houses, White Painted pottery, growing copper production and the first overseas trade.Middle Bronze Age
Byzantine and Medieval CyprusCyprus from the seventh century to the Ottoman conquest of 1570-71, under Byzantine, Lusignan and Venetian rule, and its glazed sgraffito pottery.
Late Antique and Early Byzantine CyprusCyprus from the founding of Constantinople to the Arab raids of the mid-seventh century, ruled from Constantia and reshaped by earthquakes and the Church.Roman
The Chronology of Ancient CyprusSectionThe sequence of periods used for ancient Cyprus from the Epipalaeolithic to the Roman period, and the pottery, stratigraphy and radiocarbon behind it.