The Excavations at the Site of Chlorakas-Palloures: New Light on the Late Chalcolithic of Cyprus

Bleda S. Düring of Leiden University presents the results of the first three excavation seasons (2015–2017) at the Chalcolithic settlement of Chlorakas-Palloures in the Paphos district. Initiated at the suggestion of the late Edgar Peltenburg on a five-hectare site threatened by modern development, the project investigates the transition from the Middle to the Late Chalcolithic and the early Late Chalcolithic (c. 3000–2600 BC). Düring argues that prehistoric villages in western Cyprus were not interchangeable farming communities, and that Palloures differed from neighbours such as Lemba-Lakkous and Kissonerga-Mosphilia in its scale, craft activities, and exchange networks.

After outlining how previous survey data and surface pottery were skewed by agricultural terracing, Düring contrasts the northern and southern sectors of the 750-square-metre excavation area. The northern trenches revealed monumental Chalcolithic round houses, most notably Building 1, dated by stratigraphy and radiocarbon to c. 2800–2700 BC. This structure features walls a metre wide, a plastered exterior portico and interior floor, a hearth platform 2.5 metres across, and a double-dipped stone mortar installation.

In the southern area, the team uncovered smaller, densely stratified structures measuring four to eight metres across with varied construction techniques, including mud-walled buildings, superimposed plaster floors, and a stone wall standing to 1.2 metres. Associated with a later building set in front of Building 5, excavators recovered a nearly complete large jar with parallels at Kalavasos-Pamboules, radiocarbon-dated to c. 2600 BC. Inside the vessel lay a cache containing hooks made of boar tusk, a flat stone axe, and a copper axe. Compositional analysis by Andreas Charalambous and Lina Kassianidou showed that the metal axe contains a trace of tin foreign to Cypriot ores, indicating imported metal or an imported object.

Düring reviews further evidence for regional and overseas links, including Red-and-Black Stroke-Burnished ware with Anatolian affinities, Moni chert, a copper spiral, a copper snake, and a sherd painted with a snake that recall finds from Souskiou-Laona. He concludes with an overview of burials cut into the bedrock outside the buildings, picrolite and stone figurines, and the Department of Antiquities decision to acquire the plots for long-term research. In the discussion afterwards, Diane Bolger, Harry Paraskeva, Jenny Webb, Kassianidou, and others examine the ceramic transition, the jar's parallels, and tin traces in Chalcolithic metalwork and faience.