5. W. Caraher, R. S. Moore, J.S. Noller, D. K. Pettegrew, “The Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological Project: Second Preliminary Report(2005-2006 Seasons),”
RDAC
(2007).
INTRODUCTION
The Pyla-
Koutsopetria
Archaeological Pro- ject has now completed its fourth season of archaeological work in the coastal region of thevillage of Pyla. Our goal has been to documentthe extensive array of cultural material in the areaand to ascertain the place of the site in both localand interregional social,economic,and politicalnetworks through time. Pyla-
Koutsopetria
is par-ticularly significant because it is one of a handfulof “mid-sized sites”—larger than a rural villageyet smaller than a
polis
centre— to receive syste-matic investigation in Cyprus.
1
It has recentlybeen argued that such mid-sized sites formed animportant part of the skeleton of ancient Mediter-ranean connectivity.
2
By investigating the mate-rial signature of such a site,our goal has been toestablish the economic,political,and culturalcharacter of the places which formed vital linksin inter- and intra-regional Mediterranean-widetrade networks.The site of Pyla-
Koutsopetria
is located about10km. to the east of the centre of Larnaka,at thewestern fringe of the Dekeleia Cantonment.Maria Hadjicosti conducted excavations at
Kou-tsopetria
over two short campaigns in the 1990s,bringing to light parts of an Early Christian basi-lica.
3
In 2004 and 2005,we conducted an inten-sive pedestrian survey of the area,fulfilling a callby John Leonard,among others,for a systematicinvestigation of this substantial coastal site.
4
Aswe have described in some detail elsewhere,
5
wesurveyed the highest density area of the site usinga 40
40m. grid system in which we sampled20% of the surface area for density and collectedunique sherds using a recording system known asthe Chronotype system. In order to identify thesite’s borders,we also laid a number of largersurvey units over a broader area of low artefactdensities. We contextualized our artefact densi-ties through the comprehensive geological inves-tigation of the area,including subsurfaceprospecting. And we conducted experiments to
The Pyla-
Koutsopetria
Archaeological Project:Second Preliminary Report (2005-2006 Seasons)
*
William R. Caraher,R. Scott Moore, Jay S. Noller and David K. Pettegrew
____________*The Pyla-
Koutsopetria
Archaeological Project thanks Direc-tor Dr Pavlos Flourentzos,Director of the Department of Antiquities,for the generous permission to work in the area,and deeply appreciates the cooperation of Dr Maria Hadji-costi,Dr Tom Davis at CAARI,and Mr Marinos Avraam andhis staff at the Larnaka District Archaeological Museum. Wehave received funding and technical support from the KressFoundation,INSTAP,ASOR,Indiana University of Pennsyl-vania,The University of North Dakota,The Ohio State Uni-versity Excavations at Isthmia,Greece,and several privatedonors. An earlier version of this article was given at the 24
th
Annual CAARI Archaeological Workshop,June 2006 (cf.W.R. Caraher,R.S. Moore and D.K. Pettegrew,“The Pyla-
Koutsopetria
Archaeological Project:A Third PreliminaryReport,”paper delivered at the 24
th
Annual CAARI Archaeo-logical Workshop,Nicosia,Cyprus,June 2006).1.The best known mid-sized site on Cyprus is Pegeia-
Ag. Geor-gios
. Cf. C. Bakirtzis,“The Role of Cyprus in the Grain Sup-ply of Constantinople in the Early Christian Period”in V.Karageorghis and D. Michaelides (eds),
Proceedings of the International Symposium,Cyprus and the Sea
(Nicosia1995),247-53; J. Leonard,
Roman Cyprus:Harbors,Hinter-lands,and Hidden Powers
(Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation,State University of New York at Buffalo) (2005),614-18.2.P. Horden and N. Purcell,
The Corrupting Sea
(Oxford 2000).3.S. Hadjisavvas,
Annual Report of the Department of Antiqui-ties,Cyprus
(Nicosia 1993),70-72;
idem
,“Chronique desfouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1999,”
BCH
124 (2000),693.4.J. Leonard 2005,431.5.For a discussion of our methods,cf. W. Caraher,R.S. Moore,J.S. Noller and D.K. Pettegrew,“The Pyla-
Koutsopetria
Archaeological Project:First Preliminary Report (2003-2004Seasons)”in
RDAC
2005,250-56.
reveal the limits of our artefact sampling strategy,including the resurvey of twenty grid squaresusing a more intensive sampling component –total collection of all the artefacts found on thesurface of the soil using hands-and-knees artefactcounts.This report will present the preliminary find-ings from this survey,providing a quantitativeanalysis of the material recovered,an evaluationof the archaeological experiments,and a sum-mary discussion of the ceramic finds. The com-plete publication of finds and geological analysisis currently under preparation.
THE SITE IN CONTEXT
The site at
Koutsopetria
consists of a robustscatter of cultural material on the narrow coastalplain at the base of a series of prominent coastalheights. The western limit of the site is below theheight of
Vigla
and its eastern boundary belowthe height of Pyla-
Kokkinokremmos
with its well-known Late Bronze Age fortification (Fig. 1).
6
The highest-density scatter of ceramic material isbelow the ridge of
Vigla
and covers over 10ha. Asecond area of moderate artefact density conti-nues for some 30ha. below the slopes of
Kokki-nokremmos
. This latter area is bounded to thesouth by a stretch of coastal plain almost entirelydevoid of cultural material that suggests an in-filled harbour of ancient date (see below).Over the course of four seasons of archaeo-logical fieldwork in the
Koutsopetria
region,ourteams surveyed 252 40
40m. grid squares and49 larger units,covering a total area of 63.6ha. Inthe course of survey,we counted over 20,000artefacts and collected,read,and recordedaround 8,500 artefacts using the Chronotype sys-tem. Additionally,we collected another 3,000artefacts using alternate survey techniques suchas total collection circles (see below),bringingthe total number of artefacts analyzed and col-lected to 11,500 with a weight of nearly a half aton. Of the artefacts collected from the site,wehave inventoried over a thousand with pho-tographs,drawings,and basic catalogue descrip-tions. In addition to the ceramic artefacts,wehave also documented over 430 worked stonefeatures found throughout the survey areasincluding an array of agricultural processingequipment,walls,local cut stone,elaboratelycarved gypsum,and marble fragments.
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
PKAP was committed from the start to a low-impact survey method as is increasingly commonfor survey projects in the eastern Mediterranean.
7
Low-impact surveys,in contrast to the methodstypically employed in total coverage surveys,have sought to collect as much data as possiblefrom an area while preserving
in situ
as much of the archaeological record as possible. PKAPembraced this goal by using a two-tiered sam-pling strategy.
8
A team of four field walkers
WILLIAMR.CARAHER,R.SCOTTMOORE,JAYS.NOLLER,DAVIDK.PETTEGREW
2
Fig. 1. Survey units and local topograpy for thePyla-
Koutsopetria
Archaeological Project (W.R. Caraher).____________6.V. Karageorghis and M. Demas,
Pyla – Kokkinokremos:A Late 13
th
Century Fortified Settlement in Cyprus
(Nicosia1984).7.For a recent discussion of this concept,cf. T.E. Gregory,“Less is Better:The Quality of Ceramic Evidence fromArchaeological Survey and the Practical Proposals for Low-Impact Survey in a Mediterranean Context”in E. Athanas-sopoulos and L. Wandsnider (eds),
Mediterranean Archaeo-logical Landscapes:Current Issues
(Philadelphia 2004),15-36.8.Caraher
et al.
2005,250-56. For the most recent discussion of the Chronotype system,cf. R.S. Moore,“A Decade Later:theChronotype System Revisited”in W.R. Caraher,L.J. Hall and
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W. Caraher, R. S. Moore, J.S. Noller, D. K. Pettegrew, The Pyla- Koutsopetria Archaeological Project: Second Preliminary Report (2005-2006 Seasons)
W. Caraher, R. S. Moore, J.S. Noller, D. K. Pettegrew, “The Pyla-
Koutsopetria Archaeological Project: Second Preliminary Report
(2005-2006 Seasons),” RDAC (2007).
Koutsopetria Archaeological Project: Second Preliminary Report
(2005-2006 Seasons),” RDAC (2007).
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