Paralimni-Nissia
Paralimni-Nissia is a settlement from the Ceramic Neolithic (4600 to 3900 BC). It is located near Paralimni, southeast of Famagusta on the southeast coast of Cyprus , on a rock above a small bay. In the north the river "Potamos tou Lombarti" carried fresh water until the 1930s.
Between 1995 and 2000, the settlement with a coat of arms-shaped ground plan was excavated, in which the foundations or remnants of 40 more or less square buildings with strongly rounded corners and an enclosure wall running on two of the three sides were exposed at a depth of 20 to 30 cm . The development of the 3250 m² site is arranged around a central square. The architecture of the building is reminiscent of that of Kantou-Kouphovounos and Sotira-Teppes in the southwest of the island. The building walls are made of rubble or boulders. Occasionally, walls separate the space between the buildings, a feature also known from Be'er Sheva . It is believed that the shape was adopted from the Levant .
The floor of a building in the northeast is paved with rubble. It has a center of clay about one meter in diameter, in which there was a post hole (as a roof support?). A clay hollow north of the entrance presumably served to hold a large vessel. There are two narrow stone benches near the south wall.
The 1.8 m wide enclosure wall of the settlement at the base begins on the unpaved coastline and wraps around the land side of the settlement. In the south there is an entrance near the cliff. In the north there is a narrower entrance to the river. While the settlement still existed, the wall became less important and development continued outside.
The excavation has brought important finds: vessels made of stone and clay, some of which are geometrically painted. Some of the pottery is painted red on a white background. Deer antlers, knives , sickles and a number of phallic-shaped amulets . Two imitate a fish and a human head, respectively.
context
The first conquest in the 10th millennium BC BC brought hunters and gatherers to the previously uninhabited island. Farmers who brought crops, domestic animals and wild animals (deer) came around 8300 BC. From the mainland. The ceramic Neolithic emerged from approx. 7000 BC. During this phase larger settlements with round huts were founded, as they are also known from the Levant.
literature
- Paulos Flourentzos: The Neolithic settlement of Paralimni , Department of Antiquities, Lefkosia 2008, ISBN 978-9963-36-445-9
- Paulos Flourentzos: Paralimni-Nissia: A Unique Neolithic Settlement in Cyprus ; in: Jean Guilaine, Alain Le Brun (eds.): Le Néolithique de Chypre. Actes du Colloque International Organizé par le Département des Antiquités der Chypre et l'École Française d'Athènes, Nicosie, May 17–19, 2001 , Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique, Supplement 43, ISSN 0304-2456 , École Française d'Athènes, Athens 2003, pp. 73-84
- Paulos Flourentzos: Unique Neolithic Settlement , in: Archeology in Germany 4/2002, p. 56 f.