Kissonerga-Mosphilia

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Kissonerga-Mosphilia (also often referred to as Mosphilia ) is an archaeological excavation site in Cyprus . The 10 hectare area in the west of the island near the coast dates back to the Copper Age . According to this site, the period of the Middle Copper Age (approx. 3500 to 2500 BC) in Cyprus is also known as the Mosphilia period . Several phases of settlement could be distinguished. Layers 3 and 4 were particularly well preserved.

The structures found are round and made of stone. They usually appear in pairs. A large round building stands next to a smaller one. The buildings were divided into different areas inside. There was a living area, the floor of which was mostly solid, a cooking area, a work area, and areas where tools and food were stored.

Areas in the settlement area were apparently used as temple areas. In one of these ceremonial areas, under the wall of a large building, there was a rectangular pit containing stones, pebbles and organic matter. There were also over 50 objects made of stone, bone, shell and ceramics. The most important object was a shell that was modeled like a house. The model contained ten stone figures, eight ceramic figures, a model of a chair, a shell and a small human-shaped vessel. Building 3 from the late Chalcolithic era has entered the literature as the "Pithos house" (Edgar Peltenburg 1998). The building, destroyed by fire, is nine meters in diameter and is the largest from the Cyprus period. About 280 objects and 37 pithoi were found inside the building. There are also exotic faience pearls, one of only two stamp seals and evidence of copper processing from this period.

At the end of the Middle Copper Age the place was abandoned and settled again only in the late Copper Age. During this phase there were numerous smaller residential buildings and one larger one that was interpreted as the home of the village elite. A remarkable number of valuable objects were found in the building, such as numerous stone tools and many animal bones, which suggest the special importance of hunting.

literature

  • Louise Steel: Cyprus before History. From the Earliest Settlers to the End of the Bronze Age , London 2004, pp. 86-118, ISBN 0-7156-3164-0
  • Edgar J. Peltenburg (Ed.): Lemba archaeological project , Vol. 2: 1 Excavation at Kissonerga-Mosphilia 1979-1992 , in: Studies in Mediterranean Archeology 70.2 (1998)

Remarks

  1. ↑ Monika Lucas: Figurine e pendenti cruciformi del periodo Calcolitico a Cipro: una proposta di classificazione , tesi di laurea, Venice 2013, p. 19, note 146.

Coordinates: 34 ° 49 ′ 24 ″  N , 32 ° 23 ′ 24 ″  E