A new pre-Neolithic archaeological site on the island border
The Department of Antiquities of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works, announces the completion of the archaeological survey and trial trenching carried out in 2022, for the identification of Epipaleolithic deposits in the area of Akamas. The survey was carried out under the direction of Dr. Theodora Moutsiou, postdoctoral researcher of the Archaeology Research Unit of the University of Cyprus, in collaboration with Dr. Christian Reepmeyer, specialist scientist of the Archaeology Research Unit of the University of Cyprus.
The fieldwork is part of the Prehistoric Landscapes of Cyprus (PLACe) research project funded by the Republic of Cyprus through the RESTART 2016-2020 programme of the Research and Innovation Foundation, in the framework of the Cyprus Research Award - Young Researcher (CULTURE AWARD-YR0418/0005) awarded to Dr. Theodora Moutsiou. The project is coordinated by the University of Cyprus under the academic responsibility of Professor Vasiliki Kassianidou.
In April 2022, the research team, under the direction of Dr. Moutsiou and Dr. Reepmeyer conducted a systematic surface survey using a cannabus and collecting stone artifacts in the coastal zone of the Akamas peninsula in a fragment that had been identified by the team as an area of high interest for the preservation of pre-Neolithic deposits (Figure 1). In addition, they excavated a 1x1 metre trial cut in the most artifact-rich part of the cantonment. The aim of the cut was to determine the stratigraphy and to identify material for dating (charcoal) and stone artifacts in situ.
The survey recorded over a thousand stone artifacts bearing typo-technological features of the Epipalaeolithic - Early Aceramic Neolithic period. It also unearthed part of a stone structure, the role of which remains unclear at present. Samples of charcoal were identified in the excavation area and are to be sent for radiocarbon dating analyses in the near future. The presence of an abundance of stone flakes smaller than one centimetre, both superficially and in situ within the trial cut, suggests very limited movement from their original depositional position. The archaeological objects collected during the investigations are being studied in order to determine their characteristics (dimensions, composition, typology, technology).
The discovery of this new archaeological site in such a remote and isolated part of the island challenges the prevailing view that the Akamas peninsula was a culturally marginal area during the early prehistoric period of Cyprus. When completed in 2022, the University of Cyprus' research on Akamas will add new data to the study of Cypriot prehistory and raise new questions that future research in the area will be called upon to answer.
Figure 1: Obsidian microblade from site AK-1, a new pre-Neolithic archaeological site on the Akamas Peninsula
(NΓ/EXP)
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