Kissonerga: joint rescue of an Aceramic Neolithic well

Between 7 May and 4 June 2009 the Department of Antiquities, directed by Pavlos Flourentzos, and the University of Edinburgh excavated a shaft exposed by earth-moving on a building site beside the main coastal road at Kissonerga¹. The shaft was cylindrical, 75 cm in diameter and preserved to 5 m below the surface of the havara bedrock; niches cut into its east and west sides were interpreted as footholds and handholds, and natural channels at the base indicate a water well¹. Its infill held animal bones (sheep, goat, pig and fallow deer), worked flint, a few stone beads and pendants, and broken stone vessels described as typical of the early Aceramic Neolithic¹. About halfway up lay the poorly preserved skeleton of a young woman, whose circumstances the report says could not be determined; towards the base were two chalk vessels, an intact small bowl and a finer dish, which the report suggests may have been used around the well-head¹. The report compares the well in date with six others excavated nearby by an Edinburgh team¹.