SOTIRA KAMINOUDHIA AND THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE EARLY BRONZE AGE IN CYPRUS

Abstract

Summary. The Early Bronze Age (EBA) of Cyprus is a key phase of transformation in the prehistory of the island. Major developments are observed in the economic, social and artistic arenas, but owing to the lack of excavated settlements no firm chronology has ever existed for this period. Excavations in southern Cyprus at Sotira Kaminoudhia, a site with an assemblage belonging in broad terms to the Early Cypriot (EBA) Red Polished ceramic tradition, have helped to fill the lacuna. This paper presents the analyses of a series of radiocarbon determinations from well stratified organic samples in the settlement. These both confirm the EBA status of the site and provide the first firm absolute chronology for the Cypriot EBA. In addition, the new data from Sotira Kaminoudhia provide an opportunity to examine the beginning of this period on Cyprus — specifically the much debated issue of the so‐called Philia Phase — both in chronological and socio‐economic terms.

Early Bronze Age Metal Trade in the Eastern Mediterranean. New Compositional and Lead Isotope Evidence From Cyprus

“…A date of c .2300 BC would place the two Cypriot examples toward the end of the Philia period (Bolger et al . 1998, 20–1; Manning and Swiny 1994) and provides a terminus ante quem for the deposition of the Colocassides material if it did indeed enter the archaeological record at a single point in time.…”

Erimi-Laonin Tou Porakou (Limassol, Cyprus): Radiocarbon Analyses of the Bronze Age Cemetery and Workshop Complex

“…Our purpose was to cross-check the chronological sequence obtained by archaeological evidence and, in a wider perspective, to offer a substantial contribution to the few existing absolute dates of the period (see e.g. Manning and Swiny 1994;Manning et al 2001;Frankel and Webb 2006). The Workshop Complex cleared on the top mound of Area A extends over an area of 20 χ 15m that is currently being investigated.…”