Aghios Epiktitos Vrysi

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Bone Beads, Kyrenia Archaeological Museum
Ceramic jug

As Aghios Epiktitos Vrysi (also Ayios Epiktitos Vrysi , often shortened to Vrysi ), an archaeological site in Cyprus is referred to in the specialist literature , which is 9 km east of Kyrenia on a 9 to 10 m high cliff. It is assigned to the ceramic Neolithic of the island and dates back to between 4400 and 3800 BC. BC Dated. Meanwhile, data from the time period for the 14 most reliable C-14 dates are between 4354 and 3951 BC. BC before. The settlement there consisted of at least 15 houses on an area of ​​over 600 m², with undercutting and subsequent demolitions have continuously reduced the area. Originally the size of the settlement is estimated to be more than half a hectare . The head of the excavation, carried out from 1969 to 1973, was Edgar J. Peltenburg .

The builders drove their dwellings up to 7 m deep, so that circular pits were created in the rock with an average area of ​​14 m². They are similar to those of Sotira . They had fire pits and raised berths, benches and seats on the walls, and places where the same tasks were apparently performed over and over again. The village was practically invisible from the sea.

The interior was accessed via a thatched roof, whereby the apartments became more and more spacious over time, they now rose up to 3 m above ground and had 60 cm thick outer walls. On average, the rooms were now 2.00 to 2.70 m high. The narrow paths between the houses were paved with pebbles. Apparently it was no longer necessary to hide the settlement facing the lake.

Finally the village received a wall up to 5 m high, which demarcated the ledge from the coastal plain, and which was covered by a ditch up to 7 m wide and 4.5 m deep.

Apparently the social hierarchy became significantly steeper, the signature of a society that lived from the division of labor and built its own craftsmen's houses. The basis of the economy was still hunting for mammals, turtles, fish and birds, then agriculture and livestock farming (sheep, pigs, goats, dogs, cats), but also handicrafts. The adjacent plain offered olive groves and allowed the establishment of wheat, barley and oat fields. Wine was also cultivated. The unusual density of the sheep and goat population as well as a considerable number of different awls and needles testify to a developed textile processing, the products of which were apparently traded and exchanged outside the country.

Obsidian was evidently still in use, but unlike in earlier epochs, it had become extremely rare in Cyprus. Only one piece was found in Vrysi.

Since no graves were found within the settlement, it is assumed that the dead were buried in pits outside the village, similar to the one in Sotira.

Vrysi plays a certain role in the chronology of Cyprus, because the temporal boundary between the ceramic and ceramic Neolithic has been discussed for a long time. While in one model the time limit is seen at 5129 ± 77 cal BC, the other extreme model sees this limit at 4524 ± 109. Only four finds (as of 2013) speak for an earlier point in time. Two of the only four pieces in total come from Vrysi, and they date from the early 5th millennium. Of the two older finds, one has been incorrectly dated, the other comes from Kandou Kofovounos . Overall, the first half millennium of the ceramic Neolithic remains extremely poorly documented, so that the impression of a huge gap remains.

literature

  • George RH Wright: Ancient Building in Cyprus , Part 1, Brill, Leiden 1988, pp. 45-46.
  • Edgar J. Peltenburg : Vrysi. A Subterranean Settlement on Cyprus , Warminster 1982.

Remarks

  1. ↑ The site was initially dated to 5180 ± 60 BP , which was corrected to 5360 ± 110 in 1984 (SGE Bowman, JC Ambers, MN Leese: Re-evaluation of British Museum radiocarbon dates issued between 1980 and 1984 , in: Radiocarbon 32 (1990 ) 59-79, here: p. 72 - online ).
  2. ^ A. Bernard Knapp: The Archeology of Cyprus. From Earliest Prehistory Through the Bronze Age , Cambridge University Press, 2013, p. 158 f.
  3. ↑ Bread wheat seems to have been grown here for the first time in Cyprus (A. Bernard Knapp: The Archeology of Cyprus. From Earliest Prehistory Through the Bronze Age , Cambridge University Press, 2013, p. 17).
  4. ^ A. Bernard Knapp: The Archeology of Cyprus. From Earliest Prehistory Through the Bronze Age , Cambridge University Press, 2013, p. 186.
  5. ^ A. Bernard Knapp: The Archeology of Cyprus. From Earliest Prehistory Through the Bronze Age , Cambridge University Press, 2013, p. 507.