Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Archaeologist · Scholar

Nikos Efstratiou

b. 1949 · Greece

Greek prehistorian from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki who led the fieldwork that found and excavated the early camp site of Vretsia-Roudias in the Troodos foothills from 2006.

Biography

When Nikos Efstratiou began a survey of the Troodos Mountains in 2006, he was looking for upland sites of the earliest human presence on Cyprus, following earlier work on upland sites in mainland Greece2. The Department of Antiquities annual report for 2009 describes him as Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki1.

Looking for upland sites

The first design put the search at high altitude, above 1,300 m, and found no sites. The project then moved to ground at about 500 m near Paphos, in the Dhiarizos and Xeros valleys and the Trimiklini valley2. In 2008 the team located a scatter of chipped stone covering about 5,000 square metres on a terrace near the medieval Roudias bridge, and took a sample from it. Carole McCartney analysed the material and thought it suggested links to Aetokremnos2.

Excavating Vretsia-Roudias

In November 2009 a small team from Aristotle University worked at the site under Efstratiou, licensed by the Department of Antiquities with the consent of the Forestry Department. It did a geological assessment, gridded surface collection, small test trenches and radiocarbon sampling. The team included the Cypriot archaeologist Dimitris Kyriakou, three students and the geologist P. Karkanas1.

Further seasons followed in 2010 and 2011. The results were published in the Department of Antiquities report series by Efstratiou with McCartney, Karkanas and Kyriakou, in a first report on the upland site and then in reports on the second and third seasons3. Later work cites it as an inland site contemporary with Aetokremnos, with a later component of the Late Aceramic Neolithic, called Upper Roudias3.

Syntheses and dating

Efstratiou also wrote overviews of the island's earliest prehistory, a chapter in the 2012 volume Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology: Fifty Years on and a Greek-language chapter in 20173. In 2021 he was one of five authors of a paper in Current Anthropology presenting preliminary luminescence dates for the last hunter-gatherers on the island10. With Kyriakou he published, in Greek in 2022, an account of the Aristotle University programme in Cyprus and the Roudias excavation, in a volume in honour of Eleni Mantzourani3.

Life and work

  1. 2006
    Began a survey of the Troodos Mountains for upland early sites; high-elevation (over 1,300 m) survey found nothing, so the design moved to lower ground (c. 500 m) near Paphos.

    Troodos, Paphos districtSimmons 2014, p. 166

  2. 2008
    The Aristotle University project located the Roudias site on a terrace near the medieval Roudias bridge and made a small surface collection; McCartney's analysis suggested affinities with Aetokremnos.

    Vretsia-RoudiasSimmons 2014, p. 166Antiquities 2010, p. 73

  3. November 2009
    Led a short AUT team at Roudias under licence from the Department of Antiquities and with consent of the Forestry Department: geological assessment, gridded surface collection, small test trenches, radiocarbon sampling. Team: the Cypriot archaeologist-teacher Dimitris Kyriakou, students Eleni Mloukie, Yiannis Voskos, Elli Tzanne, geologist Dr P. Karkanas.

    Vretsia-RoudiasAntiquities 2010, p. 73

  4. 2010
    Second season of fieldwork at Roudias (published as the 2010 and 2011-12 reports, with McCartney, Karkanas and Kyriakou); third season 2011.

    Vretsia-RoudiasVoskos et al. 2023, p. 24

  5. 2022
    With D. Kyriakou, published in Greek an account of the Aristotle University archaeological programme in Cyprus and the Roudias excavation, in a festschrift for Eleni Mantzourani.

    Voskos et al. 2023, p. 24

In the field

1 record

Roudias, Troodos area

2009

Connections

3 people
Panagiotis KarkanasDimitris KyriakouCarole McCartneyNikos Efstratiou
FieldworkScholarship

Fieldwork & employment

Scholarship

Sources

  1. 1.Department of Antiquities, Cyprus (2010). Annual Report of the Department of Antiquities for the year 2009. Nicosia, Department of Antiquities.
  2. 2.Alan H. Simmons (2014). Stone Age Sailors: Paleolithic Seafaring in the Mediterranean. Walnut Creek, Left Coast Press.
  3. 3.Ioannis Voskos (ed.), Dimitris Kloukinas (ed.), Eleni Mantzourani (ed.) (2023). Prehistoric Lifeways in Cyprus from the Early Holocene to the Middle Bronze Age. Nicosia, Astrom Editions.
  4. 4.N. Efstratiou (2012). “Early Cypriot prehistory in the light of recent developments”. Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology. Fifty Years on, 33-41. Uppsala.
  5. 5.N. Efstratiou, C. McCartney, P. Karkanas, D. Kyriakou (2012). “An upland early site in the Troodos Mountains”. Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus 2010, 1-26.
  6. 6.N. Efstratiou, C. McCartney, P. Karkanas, D. Kyriakou (2017). “The early camp site of Agios Ioannis-Roudias in upland Troodos: the second season of fieldwork (2010)”. Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus 2011-2012, 61-110.
  7. 7.N. Efstratiou, C. McCartney, P. Karkanas, D. Kyriakou (2018). “The Late Epi-palaeolithic camp site of Vretsia-Roudias in upland Troodos: the third season of fieldwork (2011)”. Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, New Series 1, 342-376.
  8. 8.N. Efstratiou (2017). “Η πρώιμη προϊστορία της Κύπρου: αναζητήσεις και προκλήσεις”. Αρχαία Κύπρος. Πρόσφατες Εξελίξεις στην Αρχαιολογία της Ανατολικής Μεσογείου, 17-41. Athens.
  9. 9.N. Efstratiou, D. Kyriakou (2022). “Το αρχαιολογικό πρόγραμμα του ΑΠΘ στην Κύπρο. Η ανασκαφή της προϊστορικής θέσης Άγ. Ιωάννης/Βρέτσια Ρουδιάς στο Τζόδος”. Metioessa. Studies in Honor of Eleni Mantzourani, 307-315. Athens.
  10. 10.E. Tsakalos, N. Efstratiou, Y. Bassiakos, M. Kazantzaki et al. (2021). “Early Cypriot prehistory. On the traces of the last hunters and gatherers on the island. Preliminary results of Luminescence Dating”. Current Anthropology 62, 412-425.