Maa Palaeokastro was a Late Bronze Age settlement in southwest Cyprus, near the modern town of Pegeia. The settlement was occupied from the late 13th century BC to the middle of the 12th century BC. [1] [2] It was located on a peninsula and fortified, suggesting that it had defensive functions. Artifacts found indicate that metal-working and trade took place. [1] The settlement was abandoned as part of the Late Bronze Age collapse after a few generations of habitation. [2]
Human habitation of Cyprus dates back to the Paleolithic era. Cyprus's geographic position has caused the island to be influenced by differing Eastern Mediterranean civilisations over the millennia.
The Sherden are one of the several ethnic groups the Sea Peoples were said to be composed of, appearing in fragmentary historical and iconographic records from the Eastern Mediterranean in the late 2nd millennium BC.
The Sea Peoples were a group of tribes hypothesized to have attacked Egypt and other Eastern Mediterranean regions around 1200 BC during the Late Bronze Age. The hypothesis was first proposed by the 19th century Egyptologists Emmanuel de Rougé and Gaston Maspero, on the basis of primary sources such as the reliefs on the Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu. Subsequent research developed the hypothesis further, attempting to link these sources to other Late Bronze Age evidence of migration, piracy, and destruction. While initial versions of the hypothesis regarded the Sea Peoples as a primary cause of the Late Bronze Age collapse, more recent versions generally regard them as a symptom of events which were already in motion before their purported attacks.
The Greek Dark Ages were earlier regarded as two continuous periods of Greek history: the Postpalatial Bronze Age and the Prehistoric Iron Age or Early Iron Age, which included all the ceramic phases from the Protogeometric to the Middle Geometric I and lasted until the beginning of the Protohistoric Iron Age around 800 BC. Currently, the term Greek Dark Ages is being abandoned, and both periods are not considered "obscure".
The Prehistoric Period is the oldest part of Cypriot history. This article covers the period 11,000 to 800 BC and ends immediately before the documented history of Cyprus begins.
Cyclopean masonry is a type of stonework found in Mycenaean architecture, built with massive limestone boulders, roughly fitted together with minimal clearance between adjacent stones and with clay mortar or no use of mortar. The boulders typically seem unworked, but some may have been worked roughly with a hammer and the gaps between boulders filled in with smaller chunks of limestone. It is similar to Indian masonry such as the Cyclopean Wall of Rajgir.
Pyla is a village in Larnaca District, Cyprus. It is one of only four villages located within the United Nations Buffer Zone, the other three being Athienou, Troulloi and Deneia. Pyla is located in the eastern part of the island, adjacent to the British Sovereign Base Area of Dhekelia. From a legal point of view, it is administered as all other areas controlled by the government of the Republic of Cyprus, but policed by UN peacekeepers.
Xylotymbou is a small town in Larnaca District in south-eastern Cyprus. It is one of the four enclaves surrounded by the Eastern Sovereign Base Area of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, a British Overseas Territory, administered as a Sovereign Base Area. The others are the village of Ormidhia and two separate parts of Dhekelia Power Station. It is administered by the internationally recognized government of Cyprus, the Republic of Cyprus.
Athienou is a village in Larnaca District, Cyprus. It is one of only four villages located within the United Nations Buffer Zone, the other three being Pyla, Troulloi and Deneia. Today, Athienou has a population of around 10000 people. Since 1990, it has been home to Davidson College's Athienou Archaeological Project. The town's city hall includes a museum of local history and culture that was established in 2008.
The Late Bronze Age collapse was a period of societal collapse in the Mediterranean basin during the 12th century BC. It is thought to have affected much of the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East, in particular Egypt, Anatolia, the Aegean, eastern Libya, and the Balkans. The collapse was sudden, violent, and culturally disruptive for many Bronze Age civilizations, creating a sharp material decline for the region's previously existing powers.
The town of Limantepe, sometimes spelled Liman Tepe, located on Turkey's western coast is the site of a prehistoric settlement that includes an ancient port dating from 2500 years located underwater offshore. The area is situated in the urban zone of the coastal town of Urla near İzmir. In pre-classical antiquity and during the Hellenistic and Roman eras, it was a Greek town called Larisa.
Alampra or Alambra is a village located in the Nicosia District of Cyprus.
Apliki is a small village in the Nicosia District of Cyprus, located 2.5km North-East of Palaichori Oreinis and is at an altitude of 720 meters above sea level.
The Nuragic civilization, also known as the Nuragic culture, formed in the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, Italy in the Bronze Age. According to the traditional theory put forward by Giovanni Lilliu in 1966, it developed after multiple migrations from the West of people related to the Beaker culture who conquered and disrupted the local Copper Age cultures; other scholars instead hypothesize an autochthonous origin. It lasted from the 18th century BC, or from the 23rd century BC, up to the Roman colonization in 238 BC. Others date the culture as lasting at least until the 2nd century AD, and in some areas, namely the Barbagia, to the 6th century AD, or possibly even to the 11th century AD. Although it must be remarked that the construction of new nuraghi had already stopped by the 12th-11th century BC, during the Final Bronze Age.
Pyla-Kokkinokremos was a Late Bronze Age settlement on Cyprus, abandoned after a brief occupation.
Larnaca District Museum is a museum in Larnaca, Cyprus that has displays that show the "historical development of the city of Kition and the District of Larnaka in general." It was inaugurated in 1969. and was formerly named Larnaca District Archaeological Museum. It is controlled by the Department of Antiquities.
Cypriot Bichrome ware is a type of Late Bronze Age, and Iron Age, pottery that is found widely on Cyprus and in the Eastern Mediterranean. This type of pottery is found in many sites on Cyprus, in the Levant, and also in Egypt. It was typically produced on a pottery wheel. A large variety of decorations and motifs are attested. This pottery is very similar to certain types of the Mycenaean pottery from various locations.
The Limassol District, or simply Limassol or Lemesos, is one of the six districts of Cyprus. As of 2021, it had a population of 262,238, 75,7% of which was urban The district's capital city is Limassol. Part of the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia forms an enclave on the Akrotiri Peninsula, under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom.
Kilise Tepe is a mound in Mersin Province, Turkey, just west of the Göksu River, lying 20 kilometers from Mut and 145 kilometers from Mersin. It was initially known as Maltepe which is actually the name of a site on the other bank of the river about four kilometers to the west. The original name of the mound is not known and Kilise Tepe in Turkish means "church-hill" referring to a church ruin. The site is thought to have been part of the land of Tarḫuntašša, formed when Muwatalli II moved the Hittite capital.
The archaeology of Cyprus involves the analysis of human activity derived from Cypriot artefacts and architecture from the Neolithic through to the British period. The earliest archaeological discoveries in Cyprus are attributed to European amateur collectors or “treasure hunters” during the early 19th century. By the mid 19th century, systematic fieldwork and excavations were conducted on various sites involving studying the remains of Cypriot cemeteries and tombs, maritime artefacts, architecture, pottery as well as a range of other individual artefacts. Subsequent findings and analysis detail the social and physical landscapes of ancient Cyprus as well as their evolving culture, religious beliefs and technology throughout antiquity.