FOUR DECADES OF HIATUS IN

ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN CYPRUS:

TOWARDS RESTORING THE BALANCE

Proceedings of the international one-day workshop,

held in Lefkosia (Nicosia) on 24th September 2016,
hosted by the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus

Κυπριακά – Forschungen zum Antiken Zypern

Studies on Ancient Cyprus
Vol. 2

Edited by
Despina Pilides and Maria Mina

Wien 2017

Zypern Nikosia Titelei.indd 1 01.08.17 10:35

Editors: Despina Pilides and Maria Mina | Department of Antiquities, Cyprus

Κυπριακά – Forschungen zum Antiken Zypern | Studies on Ancient Cyprus – Vol. 2

Authors: E. Alphas, L. Crewe, M. Dikomitou-Eliadou, N. Efstratiou, G. Georgiou,

J.-R. Gisler, D. Kyriakou, A. Le Brun, R. S. Merrillees, M. Mina, Ch. Paraskeva, D. Pilides,
A. H. Simmons, J. S. Smith, J. M. Webb, Z. Zomeni

Proofreading: Efthymios Shaftacolas

Graphic design: Lydia Kyprianou

Owner and publisher: Verlag Holzhausen GmbH

Publishing head: Robert Lichtner
1110 Vienna, Leberstrasse 122
www.verlagholzhausen.at
office@verlagholzhausen.at

Text credits: The rights to the individual articles remain with the authors.
Image rights book cover: Department of Antiquities, Cyprus: Terracotta cradle figurine, White Painted ware, Middle Bronze Age (2000/1950–1650 BC);
unknown provenance. Private collection Christakis Hadjiprodromou, Ammochostos (Famagusta). Repatriated from Munich in 2015, after a legal battle.
Book cover design: Thomas Weber | Verlag Holzhausen & Lydia Kyprianou | Department of Antiquities, Cyprus
Overall management: Maria Mina

1st edition 2017

ISBN: 978-3-903207-03-5 | ISSN: 2521-3202

Published in Vienna – Printed in Austria

Copyright © 2017 Verlag Holzhausen GmbH & Department of Antiquities, Cyprus – All rights reserved

Bibliographic information of the Austrian National Library and the German National Library: The ÖNB and the DNB list this publication in their national
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www.mcw.gov.cy/da
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This volume is dedicated in loving memory of Professor Edgar (Eddie) Peltenburg:
an outstanding scholar and a friend of Cyprus who will be greatly missed
 Contents

6 Preface and Acknowledgments

10 Insights into the New Challenges in Protecting Cultural Property

Jean-Robert Gisler

18 Piecing Together the Prehistoric Archaeological Record: Investigating the Cyprus Museum Storerooms
and Archives
Maria Mina

30 From a Bronze Age Tomb in Cyprus to the Estate of a Gentleman in Sussex: Measures Taken and
Problems Faced in the Investigations on the Illicit Trade of Antiquities
Efthymia Alphas

44 Protecting and Preserving the ‘Deep Time’ Prehistory of Cyprus

Alan H. Simmons

56 Mountain Archaeology in Cyprus between the two Coasts: Past Experience and Future Prospects
Nikos Efstratiou and Dimitris Kyriakou

66 Un Goût de Revenez-y
Alain Le Brun

72 Disentangling Past Narratives: a Reconsideration of Fyllia (Philia) Drakos Sites B and C

Charalampos Paraskeva

92 From North to South: Red Polished Fyllia (Philia) Pottery Production and Distribution Patterns
at the Beginning of the Cypriot Bronze Age
Maria Dikomitou-Eliadou and Zomenia Zomeni

104 Lessons to be Learnt from Exploring the Bronze Age Sites of Lapithos and Vasileia (Vasilia) on the North
Coast of Cyprus
Robert S. Merrillees

114 The Political Division of a Culturally Uniied Island: The Case of Early and Middle Bronze Age
in the Northern Part of Cyprus
Giorgos Georgiou
128 Vounoi (Vounous) and Lapithos in the Early and Middle Bronze Age: a Reappraisal of the Central North
Coast of Cyprus in the Light of Fieldwork and Research Undertaken since 1974
Jennifer M. Webb

140 Interpreting Settlement Function and Scale during MC III–LC IA Using Old Excavations and New:
Western Cyprus and Kisonerga (Kissonerga) Skalia in Context
Lindy Crewe

154 The Agios Sozomenos Excavations and Survey Project: Fortifying the Current Evidence
Despina Pilides

168 Dress and the People of Flamoudi (Phlamoudhi) in the Bronze Age
Joanna S. Smith
 Preface and Acknowledgments
This publication presents the Proceedings of the one-
day international workshop ‘Four Decades of Hiatus in
Archaeological Research in Cyprus: Towards Restoring
the Balance’ organised by the Department of Antiquities,
Cyprus, in Lefkosia (Nicosia), on 24 September 2016.
The workshop was held within the framework of the
three-year research programme ‘Saving Prehistoric
Antiquities under Threat’ (SPAUT) (2014–2017).
The project was jointly funded by the Department of
Antiquities, Cyprus and the Swiss Federal Ofice of
Culture in accordance with the 2011 bilateral agreement
between the two parties to collaborate on the prevention
of the illicit traficking of cultural goods. SPAUT consists
of four main components or work packages which are:
(a) the study and digital recording of archaeological
inds recovered prior to 1974 from twelve prehistoric
sites that are situated in areas that are not currently under
the effective control of the government of the Republic
of Cyprus, (b) the organisation of a periodic exhibition
including inds from the studied collections, the majority
of which were presented to the public for the irst time,
(c) the organisation of an international workshop on the
theme of the island’s disrupted prehistoric record and
the protection of endangered cultural heritage, and
(d) the publication of this volume, which includes the
papers presented on the occasion of the aforementioned
workshop. The overall implementation of SPAUT
has been the responsibility of Dr M. Mina, under the
supervision and guidance of Dr D. Pilides, Curator of
Antiquities.
6
SPAUT demonstrates the continuing commitment on the
part of the Department of Antiquities to safeguard and
preserve the cultural heritage of Cyprus through digital
technology, as exempliied by past and ongoing projects
such as the ‘Tombs of Enkomi (British Excavations) in
the Cyprus Museum’ and the ‘Cyprus Archaeological
Digitization Programme’. It is hoped that the study and
digitisation of material in the storerooms of the Cyprus
Museum will continue with material from sites of the
protohistoric and historic periods, which are situated
in the areas not under the effective control of the
government of the Republic of Cyprus.
The main objective of SPAUT was the preservation of
archaeological evidence at risk through the study and
digitisation of moveable cultural property that was
excavated prior to 1974, in areas that are not currently
under the effective control of the government of the
Republic of Cyprus. As a result, over 4,000 inds kept
in the storerooms of the Cyprus Museum have been
studied and digitally recorded, and artefact assemblages
have been connected to their vanished and vanishing
archaeological setting. Associated evidence, such as
archival material and excavation diaries and notes, have
provided valuable information on the archaeological
context of inds, the conditions of their recovery and
their possible fate. The research undertaken enabled an
assessment of the extent of the damage caused to the
artefact assemblages as a result of the 1974 invasion,
and an estimation of those objects that we should
consider as missing. The systematic recording of the
inds recovered from sites excavated before 1974 serves
not only to preserve evidence through digitisation, but
also to contribute to a depository of information that
archaeologists, customs oficers, students and museum
curators outside Cyprus can consult in their efforts to
combat the illegal traficking of Cypriot antiquities.
The organisation of the periodic exhibition
‘Archaeology and Memory: Excavations in the
Districts of Keryneia and Ammochostos’ (Lefkosia
[Nicosia], 23/9–10/12/2016), which was also held
within the framework of SPAUT, as well as the
international workshop ‘Four Decades of Hiatus in
Archaeological Research in Cyprus: Towards Restoring
the Balance’, aimed primarily at disseminating the
results of the research carried out in the framework of
the programme, as well as at raising specialists’ and
the public’s awareness about the threat posed to the
archaeological heritage of Cyprus through neglect,
deliberate damage or looting following the Turkish
invasion of 1974. The decision to organise the one-
day workshop was prompted by the sober realisation
of the effects that the current political situation has
had on the island’s archaeology. In fact, it has not been
possible to undertake the safeguarding of the evidence
from endangered prehistoric sites, which forms a
vital component of SPAUT, without confronting the
problem of the fragmentation of the archaeological
record that has plagued Cypriot archaeology for the
last four decades. Despite ongoing fruitful research
and ieldwork in regions accessible to the Department
of Antiquities, archaeologists are still faced with open
questions which they are unable to answer without
resuming excavations in the north. Given the social and
cultural divergence of prehistoric Cyprus, we cannot
pretend that we can extrapolate interpretations regarding
phenomena in the north from the excavated sites located
in the centre and south of the island. The time seemed
ripe, therefore, four decades after the events of 1974, to
revisit the archaeology of inaccessible areas and to re-
evaluate old data with reference to new evidence.
In view of the impact the division of the island has
had on the archaeology of Cyprus, the aims of the one-
day workshop and the publication of its proceedings
are twofold: (a) to present a reappraisal of known
evidence from prehistoric sites excavated prior to 1974
in the light of new discoveries made in areas that are
under the effective control of the government of the
Republic of Cyprus, and (b) to assess what is required
to be done in the case of a prospective reuniication of
the island. The contributors were requested to discuss
themes that touch on the developments and phenomena
of Cypriot prehistory with reference to old and new
data. The papers included in this volume present past
archaeological research in the light of new discoveries
unearthed over the last four decades on Cyprus, and they
range chronologically from the Late Epipalaeolithic to
the Late Bronze Age.
In a world which is characterised by growing fanaticism,
escalating violence and acts of vandalism directed
towards monuments and museums, the publication
of the proceedings of the one-day workshop on the
theme of the protection of cultural property in areas
of conlict appears ever more relevant. We hope that
the unfortunate case of Cyprus will serve as a useful
example for archaeologists who are also called to deal
with the loss of archaeological property in areas of
military conlict. SPAUT can also provide a precedent
for the way that combined research in museum
storerooms, archives and libraries can, in combination
with the use of digital technology, provide fruitful
results in preserving cultural property.
7
Lastly, let us take the opportunity to express our gratitude
to all those who have contributed towards the fruitful
completion of SPAUT. We have greatly beneited from
the generous inancial support of the Swiss Federal
Ofice of Culture and the government of Cyprus. The
successful completion of the research programme
would not have been possible without the support of
a number of members of staff of the Department of
Antiquities, Cyprus who have assisted at various stages
of the project. For the purposes of the study and digital
recording of inds, we are thankful to storeroom keepers
G. Massouras and C. Chrysanthou, who provided
access to the inds kept in the Cyprus Museum, and
the conservators of the Cyprus Museum laboratories,
E. Loizides, N. Militadous, E. Kyriakides, C. Kypri
and O. Makri, who curated the exhibits. We would also
like to express our gratitude to Senior Archaeological
Oficer E. Zachariou-Kaila, librarian M. Economidou
and secretarial members of staff for facilitating access
to the relevant archival material and published sources.
For the purposes of the periodic exhibition ‘Archaeology
and Memory: Excavations in the Districts of
Keryneia and Ammochostos’, we would like to thank
Dr. J.-R. Gisler (University of Fribourg) for accepting
8
our invitation to be the guest speaker on the occasion
of its opening. We would also like to express
our appreciation Archaeological Oficer M. Michael,
who provided the exhibition’s museographical design
and was instrumental in its realisation, Manolis
Camassas of The Camassa Touch Ltd. for mounting
the exhibition, Senior Archaeological Oficer
E. Zachariou-Kaila for coordinating the inclusion
of the repatriated exhibit from the Hadjiprodromou
Private Collection, and Archaeological Oficers
E. Alphas for contributing the associated text and
E. Shaftacolas for editing the exhibition texts. We are
also grateful to the members of staff of the Photographic
Archive, M. Hadjinicolaou, S. Hadjizortzi, P. Kyriakou
and photographer A. Athanasiou for providing the
photographic material of the exhibition, as well as
M. Loizou for the preparation of the exhibition’s
graphic designs. Special thanks are due to the
Department’s carpenter workshop members who
constructed the showcases skilfully and in time in
spite of their heavy workload. Finally, we would like
to thank Archaeological Oficer E. Shaftacolas and
graphic designer L. Kyprianou for their assistance in the
preparation of the present publication.
The Editors
 Vounoi (Vounous) and Lapithos in the Early and
Middle Bronze Age: a Reappraisal of the Central North
Coast of Cyprus in the Light of Fieldwork and
Research Undertaken since 1974
Jennifer M. Webb
La Trobe University,
University of Cyprus
“This eternal dialogue between [the] consent of the
gentle plain and the proud ‘no’ of the mountain ills the
old man’s soul so full that he cannot separate it from
his own being”
(from Auto-da-Fé by G.P. Pierides 1998, 89).
Introduction
In contrasting the “consent” of the central lowlands
with “the proud ‘no’” of “the barren mountain range
which raises its peaks like an unapproachable bound-
ary”, Pierides’ old man offers us a view of the north
coast of Cyprus which may relect a perception of the
physical landscape as relevant to the prehistoric Bronze
Age as to the early 20th century.
Excavations in 1913, 1917, 1927 and 1931 at Lapithos
(Gjerstad et al. 1934; Grace 1940; Myres 1940–45;
Herscher 1978) and in 1931–1932, 1933 and 1937–1938
at Vounoi (Vounous) (Dikaios 1940; Stewart and Stewart
1950; Dunn-Vaturi 2003) on the central north coast
conditioned early perceptions of the prehistoric Bronze
Age on Cyprus and both effectively became ‘type-sites’
(see Fig. 1 for the location of all sites mentioned in this
paper). Ceramic assemblages from Vounoi (Vounous),
Lapithos and nearby Karmi (Webb et al. 2009) formed
the basis for the complex typologies constructed
128
for the Early Bronze Age (hereafter EBA) or Early
Cypriot (hereafter EC) period by Stewart (1962) and for
the Middle Bronze Age (hereafter MBA) or Middle
Cypriot (hereafter MC) period by Åstr̈m (1972), with
the relatively small amount of contemporary evidence
known from elsewhere on the island seen as a divergence
from a mainstream EC/MC culture exempliied by the
north coast. Since 1974 a considerable amount of EC and
MC material has become available from other regions
of the island. This has conirmed long-held views on
the regional nature of material culture, particularly in
ceramics, and has irmly shifted the focus away from
the north coast. However, in switching our view of the
normative to the centre and south we are in danger of
losing sight of what lies beyond the “unapproachable
boundary”. My aim in this paper, therefore, is to
integrate the old (pre-1974) and the new (post-1974)
data and at the same time to reassert the importance
of the north coast, offering a new perspective on the
evidence obtained from this region prior to 1974 in the
light of the increased quantity and quality of data now
available from across the island.
The Fyllia (Philia) Early Cypriot
(2450/2400–2300/2250 BC)
The importance of the north coast during the irst
phase of the EBA, the so-called Fyllia (Philia) period,
Figure 1: Map of Cyprus showing sites mentioned in the text (prepared by the author).
is well known and will not be dealt with in detail
here. Vasileia (Vasilia) was almost certainly a major
settlement. Although it remains unexplored, surface
indications and the remarkable construction of several
tombs proclaim its exceptional character (Hennessy et
al. 1988, 25–39). Analyses of metal artefacts suggest
that the north coast was receiving metal from foreign
sources, producing ingots in ‘international’ forms and
likely exporting Cypriot copper at this time (Webb et
al. 2006; Webb 2013, 61–64). In the Ovgos Valley and
central lowlands, Fyllia (Philia) settlements linked the
north coast with the mineral-bearing foothills of the
Troodos, while in the south, Fyllia villages at Sotira and
Pyrgos suggest that the polymetallic ore bodies in the
Lemesos (Limassol) Forest were also being exploited.
These sites appear to have been part of a tightly
integrated cultural and economic system, maintained
by regular interaction and the distribution of goods,
including pottery, manufactured on the north coast or
in the Ovgos Valley (see, most recently, Dikomitou-
Eliadou 2014; Webb 2014).
Indeed this is the only period during the prehistoric
Bronze Age in Cyprus when we have a recognisably
common material culture across much, if not most,
of the island. We still have much to learn about the
Fyllia (Philia) ‘system’, but there can be no doubt that
one or more coastal settlements in the north were the
initiators and prime movers of the Fyllia phenomenon.
While our understanding of the Fyllia (Philia) EC has
advanced signiicantly since 1974, our inability to
conduct research in the areas not under the effective
control of the government of Cyprus is crippling and
ongoing debate on the origin of the Fyllia (see, most
comprehensively, Knapp 2008, 103–30; 2013a, 263–
77) is unlikely to be resolved until excavation and
survey on the north coast and in the Morfou (Morphou)
Bay/Ovgos Valley area are once again possible.
EC I–II (2300/2250–2150/2100 BC)
Vounoi (Vounous) produced the irst tomb assemblages
dating to the next phase of the EBA, the EC I–II period.
129
Not surprisingly, this material came to be seen as the
ceramic hallmark of this period and led to an expectation
that ceramic production elsewhere on the island would
match that of the north coast, with regional differences
in shape and fabric representing only minor variations on
the norm. It is now clear that this was not the case.
Excavations at Marki Alonia on the sedimentary/
igneous divide south of Lefkosia (Nicosia), from 1991
to 2000, uncovered the irst stratiied settlement
deposits of this period (Phases C and D) and a ceramic
assemblage distinctly different to that of the north
coast but including imports from that region (Frankel
and Webb 2006, 104–49). Although similar material
had been recovered at a number of sites in the south,
it was the excavation of over 650 vessels in 47 EC I–
II tombs at Psematismenos Trelloukkes (Trelloukkas)
which provided a major breakthrough (Georgiou et al.
2011). Together with stratiied material from Marki, this
large and closely dated assemblage allowed a number of
issues to be resolved, most notably the typological
and chronological confusion about south coast wares
arising in large part from the long delayed publication of
the sites at Episkopi, and prompted a critical reassessment
of the relative chronology of material from other sites in
this region (Georgiou et al. 2011, 293–99).
As a result, we have a much improved understanding
of typological developments within south/central Red
Polished (RP) ware. EC I or/and II assemblages are
now documented along the south coast from Pyla to
Avdimou, in the northwest at Flasou (Phlasou), at
Kalopsida (Kalopsidha) and Acheritou in the east and
at Marki, Alampra (Alambra), Lefkosia (Nicosia) Agia
(Ayia) Paraskevi and Deneia (Dhenia) in the Mesaoria –
with isolated inds from Makounta in the west and Agirta
(Agirda) at the foot of the Agirta pass (for a discussion
of this material and its chronology see Georgiou et al.
2011, 294–98). The dominant fabric at most sites within
this broad region is Red Polished Mottled I–II (RPm),
130
a medium-textured, hard to very hard, igneous fabric with
distinctive surface mottling (see Georgiou et al. 2011,
280–88). Vessels, while broadly similar to those on the
north coast, have wide bases and distinctive handle and
lug types. Shapes are relatively restricted, incision is not
present and relief ornament occurs very rarely. In contrast,
the RP in use on the north coast, RP I–II, is relatively soft-
ired and made from well-levigated sedimentary clays.
Vessel forms are diverse and often richly decorated with
incision, relief or/and modelled elements, particularly
in the case of conical drinking vessels known as ‘tulip
bowls’ and the cult vessels which occur with some
frequency at Vounoi (Vounous) (Webb and Frankel 2010;
2013a; Webb 2016a). Tomb size and form suggest a
similar trajectory, with differentiation and elaboration on
the north coast and stability and uniformity in the centre
and south. This implies signiicant differences in the
intensity with which material culture was used to index
and contest social identities and structures in north and
south/central Cyprus and, more broadly, in cross-island
trajectories toward social complexity in EC I–II (Webb
and Frankel 2013a).
Peltenburg (1996, 27) identiied this dichotomy
between the material culture of the north coast and the
centre and south 20 years ago, arguing that it relects
“antipathetic socioeconomic and political systems”,
with hierarchically organised groups mainly conined
to the north while elsewhere an older system with an
egalitarian ideology maintained a “more traditional
lifestyle”. The immediate cause of the emergence
(or re-emergence) of cultural regionalism in EC I is
likely, however, to have been the demise of the eastern
Mediterranean maritime trading system around 2200
BC, possibly as a result of a severe drought which
caused environmental degradation across the eastern
Mediterranean (Manning 2013; Webb and Frankel
2013a, 62). This system had facilitated the long-distance
metals trade in which north coast communities were
participating in the Fyllia (Philia) EC, and its collapse
is likely to have led to a relatively sudden loss of the
economic imperative behind the north coast’s dominance
of internal networks and a retraction in connections
between the north coast and the rest of the island,
possibly amidst considerable socio-economic insecurity.
Following the demise of Vasileia (Vasilia), Vounoi
(Vounous), 20 km to the east, became the paramount
centre on the north coast. At this site elaborate pottery
and complex funerary practices suggest a more or less
direct evolution from the earlier Fyllia (Philia) system
– founded on economic centrality and the management
of cross-island networks – to one in which status and
authority were structured in ways which appealed instead
to ritual legitimacy and the elaboration of material culture
within a physically and culturally restricted region.
The centre and south took a different path. Here robust,
largely undifferentiated pottery assemblages and modest
mortuary facilities suggest that social equivalence and
inclusion were more important than the assertion of
individual or sub-group status. This may be attributed
in part to the survival of the communal ethos which
Peltenburg had long advocated for southwestern
communities during the preceding Chalcolithic (see,
most recently, Bolger and Peltenburg 2014, 191–93).
It is also likely to relect different long-term responses
to the development and decline of the Fyllia (Philia)
facies. EC I–II was not, however, a period of stagnation
in this region. Villages established near copper ore
bodies in the Fyllia (Philia) EC continued to mine and
process copper and grew in size. Earlier communication
networks probably continued in use, allowing relatively
easy movement of people, goods and ideas along the
south coast corridor and northward to the central plain.
This suggests a period of relative stability and helps to
explain the spatial extent of the RPm ceramic style zone.
In the far west, evidence is rapidly accumulating for
another spatially discrete ceramic tradition, in this case
involving Drab Polished (DP) and western varieties of
RP which evolved independently in this region (Graham
2013; Crewe 2014). These discontinuous ceramic
provinces relect signiicant social boundaries and
multiple “pathways of continuity from Philia to EC I–II”
(Bolger and Peltenburg 2014, 192).
North coast communities were acquiring metal for their
own needs in EC I–II and pottery was moving south to
the central lowlands (Frankel and Webb 2006, 110–12,
119) and west as far as Kisonerga (Kissonerga), in the
latter case possibly by sea (Crewe 2014). RPm vessels
also occasionally found their way north to Vounoi
(Vounous) and Karmi (Frankel and Webb 2012). These
cross-regional imports, and hybrid ceramic forms at
Flasou (Phlasou) in the Kargotis (Karkotis) Valley
(Georgiou 2014, 134), indicate a degree of interaction
between the north coast, the northwest Troodos and the
central lowlands, perhaps involving a trade in ingots
and metal artefacts. There is little, however, to suggest
sustained contact between the more distant north
and south coasts. The sharply deined Pentadaktylos
(Pendadaktylos) Range appears at this time to have
served as an effective social and physical boundary,
limiting northern communities to expansion within the
narrow coastal strip. While the absence of settlement
evidence is a major problem, it is possible to suggest
that a ranked settlement system dominated by Vounoi
(Vounous) operated on the north coast in EC I and II with
limited penetration south of the range.
Early Cypriot III–Middle Cypriot
(2150/2100–1700/1650 BC)
Inter-regional connections appear to have remained
limited until EC III or MC I. Georgiou’s study of survey
material suggests a signiicant increase in population
and settlement density in the north and the northwest
at this point (Georgiou 2007, tables 10.1–2, 6, 11.4).
Survey and excavations at Deneia (Dhenia) in 2003 and
131
2004 also indicate an explosion of tomb construction
and the establishment of new burial grounds in MC I–
II, suggesting a very signiicant inlux of people and
rapid growth of the associated settlement or settlements
(Frankel and Webb 2007, 152–54, 159–61). Additional
sites were established in EC III or MC I at Agia (Ayia)
Paraskevi and other localities in the Lefkosia (Nicosia)
area (Georgiou 2007, 281–85, table 10.5).
These developments coincided with a shift in focus
westward from Vounoi (Vounous) to Lapithos. The
importance of Lapithos in the MBA has long been
attributed to a renewed foreign demand for Cypriot copper
and the re-entry of the north coast into the international
marketplace (see, most recently, Webb 2016b). Lapithos
was located close to a protected bay and better placed
than Vounoi (Vounous) to take advantage of a resurgence
of seaborne trade. Large-scale consumption of metal is
indicated in tombs excavated by the Swedish Cyprus
Expedition and the Pennsylvania Museum, with 74% of
EC III/MC I chambers containing metal, rising to 96% in
MC I–III (Keswani 2004, 68–69, 208–14, tables 4.11b–
4.12). When viewed alongside the fact that evidence
for foreign contact during the early years of the MBA
has so far been found only on the north coast, there can
be little doubt that foreign relations and the metal trade
were again in the hands of north coast entrepreneurs (see
Webb et al. 2009, 250–52).
Meeting the renewed external demand for Cypriot
copper required the re-establishment of long-distance
supply networks between the north coast and the
mineralised zones of the Troodos. Deneia (Dhenia) was
clearly a key element in this new procurement system.
The presence of Deneia (Dhenia) pottery at Lapithos
and at Agirta (Agirda) and Krini at the foot of the Agirta
pass suggests that these two rapidly expanding centres
were operating in close alliance by MC I. New villages
were also founded in the northwest Troodos near the ore
deposits at Skouriotissa and Mavrovouni (Webb and
132
Frankel 2013b, 5; Georgiou 2014). Recent publication
of Dikaios’ excavations at Ampelikou (Ambelikou)
Aletri in 1942 leaves no doubt that it was a permanent
mining and metalworking village with close ties to
Lapithos (Webb and Frankel 2013b). Multiple smelting
and casting installations suggest off-site distribution of
ingots, likely transhipped to Lapithos by sea via Cape
Kormakiti or inland from Morfou (Morphou) Bay via the
Panagra pass.
The inhabitants of mining villages like Ampelikou
(Ambelikou) clearly included a skilled labour force
dependent on both a local support base and a distribution
network embedded within a larger system of demand and
exchange (Webb and Frankel 2013b, 223). Most ingots
were probably transported to the north coast, but the
presence of DP and west coast RP vessels at Ampelikou
(Ambelikou) suggests that some metal was also being
traded out to the Polis region. The villagers thus appear to
have enjoyed a degree of autonomy in the management of
their products. Similar independent, skilled communities
of miners and smelters integrated into communication
networks and managed or mobilised by regional centres
or coastal outlets may (indeed must) be envisaged from
the Fyllia (Philia) period onwards on Cyprus and are
likely to have been particularly active in the Fyllia and
MC periods.
However Lapithos’ procurement system worked, it is
clear that metal re-entered the system in large quantities in
the MC period and nowhere more so than at Lapithos. In
total, 122 EC and MC tombs at Lapithos have produced
over 1,740 metal artefacts (almost ive times the number
[367] recovered from 164 excavated tombs at Vounoi
[Vounous]). This igure includes over 980 copper-base
artefacts and 34 of silver, silver-lead and gold recovered
from the 59 tombs excavated in 1913 by Myres, Markides
and Buxton, a very much higher number than reported
by Catling (1964) and Balthazar (1990) (as indicated in
Markides’ 1915 inventory of the inds from 1913 and
Buxton’s ield notebook, both in the Cyprus Museum).
It does not include the metal recovered in 18 tombs dug
by Markides at Lapithos in 1917, or 25 tombs excavated
by the Department of Antiquities in 1954 and 1968–
1969, almost all of which are said to have produced
spearheads and knives (Karageorghis 1969, 471). In
purely quantitative terms, the accumulation of metal at
Lapithos is remarkable.
The amount of metal deposited in tombs at Lapithos
also increased dramatically through the MC period –
both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of tomb
assemblages – alongside a signiicant increase in tomb
size and complexity. This is evident in the combined
data from the Swedish and Pennsylvania tombs (Webb
2016b, 59–60, ig. 1c) – and in many individual tomb
chambers (e.g. Swedish Tombs 313A, 320, 322A). The
data from Myres’ tombs, currently under study, suggest
a similar trajectory. Buxton’s plans of Tombs 15 and 18
(Fig. 2), for example, indicate even higher percentages
of metal in MC II and MC III (at 67% and 32.2%
respectively) and, as in a number of the Swedish tombs,
the presence of hoards or caches of metal artefacts. The
latter, as argued elsewhere, suggest that perceptions
of metal had changed at Lapithos within some groups
by MC II (Webb and Frankel 2015, 135–36, ig. 9.14;
Webb 2016b). It would appear that metal artefacts were
no longer viewed as the inalienable possessions of
particular ancestors but as a source of real or symbolic
capital to be curated, managed and accumulated.
All types of metal artefacts occur more often at
Lapithos than they do at Vounoi (Vounous) (Fig. 3).
There is also a wider array of artefact types, including
personal ornaments (rings, earrings, bracelets). Some
artefacts are known only from Lapithos, notably exotic
pin types, so-called ‘hair pins’, a socketed hook and
a spindle, and imported metal objects include knives,
tweezers, pins and small vessels of silver and both
silver and gold ornaments (see Webb 2016b, 62–63
with references).
The concentration of bladed weapons on the north
coast is also remarkable. Vounoi (Vounous) and
Lapithos together account for 81.6% of spearheads
recovered from EC and MC tombs across the island
(Fig. 4) (see also Webb and Frankel 2015, table 9.1
which does not, however, include the data from
Myres’ tombs). There is again a marked difference
between the numbers at Vounoi (Vounous) and
Lapithos, with almost four times as many at Lapithos.
Keswani (2004, 83) has argued that spearheads were
ceremonial items used in mortuary display. Most, if
not all, however, are fully functional weapons and the
fact that their incidence on the north coast coincides
with the rise of Lapithos and the demise of Vounoi
(Vounous) suggests that the shift in authority from
Vounoi to Lapithos involved intense competition and
probably the use of force.
This is not a new idea. Stewart (1962, 299) observed
that the “increase of armaments at Lapithos in and
after M.C. I suggests that the growth of that centre
was not founded on peace and economics alone, but
required that men could defend themselves and, if
need be, attack others”. What has become clear only
more recently is the singularity of Lapithos, not just
in relation to Vounoi (Vounous), but more broadly
across the island. In contrast to the vast quantity of
metal deposited in MC tombs at Lapithos, relatively
small numbers of weapons and other artefacts have
been found in tombs elsewhere, even at sites near
copper ore sources or/and with contemporary evidence
for metalworking (Katydata [Katydhata], Kalavaso
[Kalavasos], Pyrgos, Politiko, Marki, Alampra
[Alambra]). More surprisingly, relatively few metal
artefacts have been reported from the vast burial
grounds at Deneia (Dhenia) and Agia (Ayia) Paraskevi
(Frankel and Webb 2007, 128; Georgiou 2013). While
looting must account for this to some extent, Lapithos
appears at present to be the only site on the island with
an excess or redundancy of metal.
133
Figure 2: Draft plan of Tomb 18 excavated at Lapithos in 1913 (drawn by the author from Buxton’s field plans and sketch drawings of pottery and metal finds,
Cyprus Museum archive).

Lapithos’ dependence on alliances with settlements
south of the Pentadaktylos (Pendadaktylos) led to
greater interregional movement of people and goods
in the MC period, and the north coast lost much of
its cultural distinctiveness. It is increasingly clear,
however, that this was not the near island-wide
phenomenon it had been during the Fyllia (Philia)
EC. Greater ceramic homogeneity in EC III and MC
I within an expanded central and northern interaction
zone suggests a return to broader and more uniform

134
Figure 3: Metal artefacts recovered from EC and MC tombs at Vounoi (Vounous) and Lapithos (data from Gjerstad et al. 1934, Dikaios 1940, Stewart and Stewart
1950, Herscher 1978, Dunn-Vaturi 2003, and Markides’ 1915 inventory of the 1913 finds in the Cyprus Museum archive). The Lapithos data does not include
metal objects excavated by Markides in 1917 and by the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus in 1954 and 1968–1969.

Figure 4: Spearheads and knives recovered from EC and MC tombs in Cyprus (mixed Middle and Late Bronze Age assemblages are not included). The Lapithos data
does not include metal objects excavated by Markides in 1917 and by the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus in 1954 and 1968–1969.

135
behaviours across this region, but in the south and
west local traditions persisted. On the south coast RPm
remained in use in the MC period, alongside other local
variants of RP and imported or locally produced DP,
and ceramic production continued to be regionally
distinctive (Webb 2014). Some RP III was moving south
and DP occasionally made its way to the northwest and
central plain, but DP is not present at all on the north
coast and north-central fabrics (White Painted, Black
Polished, Black Slip, Red Slip) are seldom found
beyond their core production areas (Webb 2014, 220–
21). If the movement of such goods is a valid proxy,
it would appear that the networks responsible for the
supply and transmission of metal to Lapithos were
conined to the northern Troodos and central lowlands.
This is relected also in the distribution of plank
igures, which are likely to have been initially, if not
exclusively, produced at Lapithos and otherwise occur
at Deneia (Dhenia) and Agia (Ayia) Paraskevi and at
smaller villages close to copper ore sources, suggesting
a down-the-line movement within Lapithos’ copper
procurement network (Webb 2016c).
Conclusion
Recent and on-going excavations in the centre, south
and west have greatly improved our understanding of
chronological developments and both site-speciic and
regional variation in prehistoric Bronze Age Cyprus,
but it is clearly important not to lose sight of the
north coast. The dynamism of this region throughout
this period is undeniable. Both tomb architecture and
mortuary assemblages suggest ritual specialisation
and considerable iconographic complexity at Vounoi
(Vounous) in EC I–II. Moreover, evidence suggests a
level of ‘industrialisation’ and the operation of related
structures for the management and internal and external
distribution of metal at Lapithos in MC times. Together
with the prominence of Vasileia (Vasilia) in the Fyllia
136
(Philia) EC, this suggests sustained complexity of social
articulation in this region of the island before 1700 BC.
More speciically, the accumulation of metal and other
indicators of corporate wealth and emerging social
hierarchy at Lapithos preigure transitional MC III/LC I
developments at Egkomi (Enkomi), Morfou (Morphou)
Toumpa tou Skourou (Toumba tou Skourou) and
elsewhere (see, most recently, Knapp 2013b; Manning
2014). Indeed, much of what is seen as constituting
the relatively abrupt appearance of social complexity
around 1700 BC may have emerged on the north coast
in MC I and II. In my view, this poses a signiicant
challenge to Knapp’s (2013b, 21–28) proposal that the
correlates of a stratiied complex society do not appear
together in the Cypriot archaeological record before the
Protohistoric Bronze Age and to Manning’s suggestion
(2014, 29) that no major “beyond-village” or “copper-
associated” centre existed on Cyprus in MC I–II.
Elsewhere on the island, also, workshop production
and trade in regional commodities (picrolite, textiles,
ceramics, copper) is increasingly indicated (Webb 2014,
223 with references). While operating at a different
level to Lapithos, systems across the island now appear
to have been more complex than once envisaged, both
at the village and regional level.
In sum, after four decades of hiatus in archaeological
research in occupied Cyprus, “restoring the balance”
is of critical importance. Despite the manifold
constraints, there are some practical ways in which we
can do this. Most obviously, all remaining unpublished
assemblages from this region should be studied and
published. This is nowhere more urgent than in the case
of Lapithos, which, alongside Agia (Ayia) Paraskevi
is one of the most important and least well published
sites on the island. With only some 15% of all excavated
tombs at Lapithos formally published, Stewart’s
(1962, 212) reference to them “as a cloud on the
horizon, mostly unknown and probably unknowable”
sadly remains true. My own current project to publish
the tombs excavated in 1913 is an attempt to at least
partially redress this situation. Secondly and, more
creatively, we need to ‘imagine’ the settlement correlates
of the burial data from the north coast and from
similarly inaccessible or unlocated major settlements
at Deneia (Dhenia) and Agia (Ayia) Paraskevi. Given
the site-speciic and regional discontinuities in material
culture and social capital across the island, settlements
excavated elsewhere are unlikely to be valid analogues.
We need to keep these discontinuities in mind if we are
not to lose sight of north coast dynamism and repeat
the mistakes of an earlier generation by once again (but
in reverse) reading the part for the whole.
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