Building Bronze Age Cyprus: An Integrative Approach to Monumental Architecture and Ashlar Masonry

Caroline Barnes of the University of British Columbia presents a paper co-authored with Graham Braun of the University of Cincinnati on stone construction in the Late Bronze Age, based on fieldwork conducted in 2023 and 2024 with Kevin Fisher across five Cypriot sites. Rather than treating monumental ashlar masonry solely as an expression of elite control, the project examines the practical construction process from the perspective of the builders and masons.

Barnes outlines the spread of ashlar in Cyprus from its earliest appearance at the fort of Korovia-Nitovikla after 1750 BCE to its wider adoption in Late Cypriot IIC agricultural storage buildings and Late Cypriot III sanctuaries. The study combines architectural energetics with photogrammetry and terrestrial laser scanning to measure tool marks and estimate the person-hours needed to extract, transport, assemble and dress stone from the Pakhna formation, such as that from the Tochni sandstone quarry.

The talk compares three Late Cypriot IIC storage complexes: Building X at Kalavasos-Ayios Dhimitrios, the Ashlar Building at Maroni-Vournes and Building II at Alassa-Paliotaverna. At Kalavasos and Maroni, where stone was hauled over greater distances, ashlar was integrated with rubble and placed in visible areas of social interaction; Kalavasos kept rough surfaces, drafted margins and lifting bosses, whereas Maroni cut the bosses away. At Alassa, where stone was quarried in the immediate vicinity, ashlar forms every wall of Building II, including internal partitions and a five-tonne plinth block, requiring an estimated 27,000 person-hours. In the Late Cypriot III sanctuaries of Kition-Kathari and Palaepaphos, masonry techniques remained conservative while the scale increased: Kition shipped white limestone 20 kilometres across Larnaca Bay, and Palaepaphos erected massive orthostats without drafted margins, with corner channels cut for ropes.

Barnes notes that top drafted margins at four of the five sites measure 7.5 to 8 centimetres, matching the four-digit unit of the Egyptian cubit system and suggesting an anatomical measurement standard. Drawing on comparative labour theory and the 50,000-litre olive oil capacity of Building X at Kalavasos, she argues that these projects relied on reciprocal negotiation and communal participation rather than simple coercion, and closes with the Iron Age reuse and imitation of Late Cypriot ashlar, including 42 masons' marks and double drafted margins at the palace of Palaepaphos-Hadjiabdoulla.