The earlier Neolithic in Cyprus: recognition and dating of a Pre-Pottery Neolithic A occupation.

The earlier Neolithic in Cyprus: recognition and dating of a Pre-Pottery Neolithic A occupation. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Introduction Up to 20 years ago, archaeological evidence indicated that thehuman occupation of the island of Cyprus began in the seventh millenniumcal BC (Stanley-Price 1979; Cherry 1981, 1985; Karageorghis 1982), andcould be seen as a relatively late and somewhat marginal colonisationachieved by established farmers from the Levantine mainland during theirfinal Pre Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) period. An important challenge tothis consensus occurred in the late 1980s, with the discovery of a LateEpipalaeolithic site at Akrotiri Aetakremnas on the south coast ofCyprus with dates in the eleventh to early tenth millennia cal BC(Simmons 1988, 1991, 1999; Simmons & Mandel 2007). Two other coastalsites with similar early lithic industries have also been recognisedrecently, possibly indicating maritime explorations and voyaging byforagers to Cyprus during the Younger Dryas into the earlier Holocene(Ammerman et al. 2006, 2007, 2008). Meanwhile, in the other direction,finds reported in the last ten years trace the Neolithic occupation ofCyprus back another two millennia from its supposed seventh-millenniumBC beginnings, with the recognition of earlier PPNB (Cypro-PPNB) sitesstarting around or after 840018300-8200 cal BC (Peltenburg et al. 2000,2001; Swiny 2001; Sevketoglu 2002, 2008; Peltenburg 2003; McCartney& Todd 2005; Guilaine & Briois 2006; Simmons 2007: 234-45). A major question for current research thus became: what happened onCyprus between about 10 000 cal BC and 8200 cal BC? Was there a hiatusin human presence on the island (cf. Guilaine & Briois 2006, but seeMcCartney 2010)? The answer to this question is critical to providing aframework for understanding the development of the Neolithic on Cyprus,and elsewhere in the Eastern Mediterranean, since the missing intervalrepresents the transition from foraging to initial experimentation withcultivation (Sherratt 2007; Simmons 2007:86-118). Was there aPre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) phase on Cyprus as suggested by someresearchers (Watkins 1980; Peltenburg et al. 2001: 55; McCartney et al.2006, 2007 with references)? New investigation strategy Much of the coastal terrain of Cyprus available in the initialHolocene is now underwater, and many inland areas are heavily eroded ordeeply buried by later alluvial deposits. However, preliminary analysisof lithics from several inland sites in central Cyprus by Stewart andMcCartney indicated the possibility of a hitherto overlooked EarlyNeolithic phase (McCartney et al. 2006, 2007, 2008). The ElaboratingEarly Neolithic Cyprus (EENC) project began by investigating this areaof central Cyprus in 2005, focusing on the ecological transition zonebetween the Troodos foothills and central plain. Targeted survey work todate has identified 23 sites with lithic materials of potentially earlydate, but most are highly eroded and unlikely to have any significantintact strata. One locus with early lithic material, Ayia VarvaraAsprokremnos (henceforward AVA), was a clear exception (Figure 1). Onthe basis of survey and preliminary auger tests, it appeared to havesignificant potential to yield intact archaeological deposits--nowsubstantiated by four seasons of excavation (McCartney et al. 2006,2007, 2008, 2009) (Figure 2). AVA (Ayia Varvara Asprokremnos): site and Early Neolithicassemblage AVA lies on a saddle between two low hills in central Cyprus atabout 318m asl. The site is bounded on the west by the Yialias river andlies in an area rich in high quality chert, volcanic and calcareousrocks suitable for ground stone manufacture and abundant ochre, materialresources that probably contributed to the choice of site location. Thefull extent (temporal and spatial) of the site is as yet unknown. Theexcavations have identified at least three phases of Early Neolithicactivity in separate areas of the site. Dumping episodes of primary andsecondary refuse in a series of natural hollows or channels showevidence for in situ industrial activity (Figure 2). A simplesemi-subterranean hollow shelter with off-centre posthole at thenorthern end of the site (Trench 12) is stratified below traces of laterfeatures (Figure 3). [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] [FIGURE 3 OMITTED] A diverse range of finds provides evidence of a distinct Neolithicassemblage for Cyprus, while demonstrating parallels to PPNA assemblageson the adjacent mainland. Picrolite supplies the local green stone usedfor simple pebble and drop pendants (ranging from about 10mm to about50mm in length). These, along with shell beads, predominantly dentalium,illustrate an aspect of material culture well developed by the EarlyNeolithic in the Levant (Bar-Yosef Mayer & Porat 2008). Ground stonetools include abundant hand-held grinding stones that imply plantprocessing, though many such tools were utilised for grinding ochre(Figure 4). Stone vessels made at the site include flat based'trays', hemispherical bowls and relatively crude shallowglobular bowls. An exceptional finely-made example shows the use ofochre decoration (McCartney et al. 2008: fig. 3b). This painted vesselis currently unique on Cyprus, but broadly recalls the use of decoratedstone bowls at Early Neolithic sites on the Euphrates that has beenassociated with stone vessel manufacture in south-east Anatolia(Coqueugniot 2004: 301; Yartah 2005: fig. 7). A significant discovery of two partial ground stoneshaft-straighteners provides the earliest evidence of this artefact typeon Cyprus (Figure 5). While such objects appear during the Natufianperiod on the mainland, carefully decorated examples become more commonduring the Early Neolithic with examples from Jeff el Ahmar providing aparallel for the type of decoration seen on the AVA finds (Stordeur etal. 1996: 2, fig. 2; Cauvin 2000: 47-8, fig. 19). Such markings provideearly evidence of signs and of some form of wider (shared) systems ofsymbolic representation between Cyprus and the wider Early Neolithic ofthe Near East (Watkins 2008:159). [FIGURE 4 OMITTED] One other highly significant find is a fragment of a baked clayfigurine that provides (with another stone figurine found in 2009) theearliest known example, thus far, of human representation on the island(Figure 6). Not only does this object link Cyprus to the expansion ofsuch symbolic representation during the Early Neolithic (e.g. Garfinkel2003: 7-9), but it recalls a similar example reported from PPNA depositsat the site of Gilgal I in the southern Levant (Noy 1994: 518), againsuggesting far-reaching exchange and ideational networks that are nowrecognised as a hallmark of the Neolithic in the Near East (Asouti 2006;Watkins 2008). Typo-technological evidence provided by the chipped stoneassemblage at AVA also suggests a relative date for the sitecorresponding to the late PPNA in the Levant (see below; Kuijt &Goring-Morris 2002; Coqueugniot 2004). The core technology is dominatedby a well-developed unidirectional chaine operatoire exhibiting a highdegree of standardisation (McCartney et al. 2007: tab. 32, fig. 4).Numerous cores show the use of a transverse dorsal or lateral crestdemonstrating methods of core shaping recalling examples from theEpi-Natufian at Mureybet or the Khiamian site of Wadi Tumbaq in westernSyria (Calley 1986: 166-7, figs. 133.3 & 134; Abbes 2008: fig. 5).Some cores also exhibit an opposing distal platform used to rejuvenatecores as at late PPNA Jeff el-Ahmar (Stordeur et al. 1996: 1). Thoughsome true bidirectional cores are present, naviform core technology isabsent at AVA, suggesting a degree of conservatism and/or regionalvariation when naviform core technology was already beginning to occurelsewhere (Coqueugniot 2004: 296, fig. 2). Microliths, including a few geometrics, are present along with anumber of bifacially backed blades. Perforating tools are prominent andinclude micro-perforators like those documented at Wadi Tumbaq (Abbes1993: fig. 7). Of special significance are the numerous arrowheads (over100 complete and broken examples are recorded to date), providing aunique abundance of a typically rare tool class on the island (Figure7). The dominant type is made on small blades or bladelets and exhibitsa short lozenge-shaped tang defined by semi-abrupt typically biracialretouch. Similar examples are documented at Mureybet phase IIIB, CheikhHassan or Dja'de providing a precise reference to the LatePPNA/transitional Early PPNB industries of the northern Levant (Abbes1993: 149, fig. 8; Cauvin 1994: 287-8, fig. 6; Coqueugniot 2004: 297). [FIGURE 5 OMITTED] Glossed segments exhibiting inverse convex basal truncationsdemonstrate a further parallel to western Syria in the Early PPNBassemblage of Tell Ain El Kerkh (Tsuneki et al. 2006: 53, fig. 3.13).Despite the prolific ground stone assemblage, the number of glossedtools is low, and together with the absence to date of charred plantremains, gives little indication of early plant domestication at AVA.Pig, along with smaller amounts of bird bone and the occasionalfreshwater crab, dominates the faunal evidence from AVA. The prevalenceof pig is a feature similarly known at PPNA Cayonu in south-eastAnatolia, or more recently at the Early PPNB Tell Ain El Kerkh inwestern Syria (Ervynck et al. 2001; Tsuneki et al. 2006: 57). The datesfor the occurrence of pigs at the AVA site (see below) lie before thecurrent earliest dates for domesticated pigs in the Near East (around8500-8000 cal BC; Zeder 2008). They may therefore represent thestocking/restocking of Cyprus with wild pigs by foragers (cf. Horwitz etal. 2004: 36-7; Vigne et al. 2009). These data, together with anabsence, to the present, of charred plant remains, contrasts AVA withthe farming 'package' associated with Cypro-PPNB sites (cf.Peltenburg et al. 2000: 845). Radiocarbon dates from Early Neolithic Ayia Varvara Asprokremnos(Figure 8, Table 1) A tight cluster of six [sup.14]C dates on six different charcoalsamples, directly associated with the archaeological assemblagedescribed above, provides secure absolute age estimates from the verylate tenth to the mid ninth millennia cal BC. The overall range of agesat 2[sigma](95.4% confidence) is 9141-8569 cal BC (11 090-10 518 calBP), whilst at 1[sigma] (68.2% confidence), it is 9116-8638 cal BC (11065-10 587 cal BP). The high consistency and similarity of the dates forthese samples from just one trench (06) appear to suggest that theybelong to a discrete relatively short temporal horizon. Treating thedates as a Phase in OxCal, the overall range of the modelled ages isreduced to 8841-8686 cal BC (10 790-10 635 cal BP) at 95.4% probabilityand 8795-8733 cal BC (10 731-10 682 cal BP) at 68.2% probability. Evenallowing for some in-built age for the charcoal samples involved(probably c. 0-100 years for the expected tree species), this indicateshuman occupation at AVA most probably (in round terms from the 68.2%range) between c. 8800-8630 cal BC (10 749-10 579 cal BP). [FIGURE 6 OMITTED] The dates confirm AVA as a very Early Neolithic occupation onCyprus contemporary with the late PPNA in the Levant, though overlappingwith the earliest PPNB on the Euphrates. This new evidence fills part ofthe previously problematic gap on Cyprus between the LateEpipalaeolithic evidence at Akrotiri Aetokremnos and the now substantialCypro-PPNB evidence (Figure 9). The Aetokremnos, AVA and later PPNBhuman presence may lie on plateaux/reversals in the [sup.14]Ccalibration curve (Figure 10). These plateaux represent periods ofreduced [sup.14]C production, and, in general terms, probably warmer and(in the early Holocene) wetter intervals. They contrast with the steepslopes in the [sup.14]C calibration curve representing production peaksand solar minima and probably cooler intervals within overall climatetrends (Bjorck et al. 2001; Bond et al. 2001; Solanki et al. 2004--for ageneral discussion of the relationship of the radiocarbon record toclimate, see Manning 2010). Thus it may be that Cyprus was periodicallymore attractive (or especially attractive) to early human populationsduring these relative warming and probable wetter climate horizons (themagenta periods indicated in Figure 10) after the cold arid YoungerDryas interval (in the generally improving early Holocene regionalclimate context: Bar-Matthews et al. 1997, 1999; Robinson et al. 2006;Rosen 2007), and perhaps in contrast to some of the periods withsomething of a return to cooler and (in the early Holocene) drierconditions (the blue periods indicated in Figure 10). [FIGURE 7 OMITTED] [FIGURE 8 OMITTED] [FIGURE 9 OMITTED] Discussion The evidence for very Early Neolithic human presence on Cyprushighlights that long-distance maritime voyaging was a key humanadaptation in the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean beginning with theLate Epipalaeolithic (Broodbank 2006; Ammerman et al. 2008; Ammerman2010). Several sites with similar technology from the EENC survey areain central Cyprus, like the surface finds in the south of the island(Guilaine & Briois 2006), suggest that AVA is part of a wider PPNAperiod on the island. The data show a hitherto unknown westerlyexpansion of the mainland PPNA, while adding significantly todiscussions of the timing and directionality of the PPNA/PPNB transitionin the wider Near East. [FIGURE 10 OMITTED] Cyprus thus becomes a key part of, and evidence for, extensiveEarly Neolithic interactions and networks, and can no longer be seenmerely as a minor periphery of the far-reaching subsequent PPNB era(Asouti 2006). Although Cyprus did not participate in the earliestobsidian networks, evidence from AVA, including the arrowhead types,shaft-straighteners, clay figurine and decorated stone bowl, suggestwide-ranging interaction extending from the Euphrates to the southernLevant. The finds and their context imply a forager- not farmerledprocess. Rather than isolating Cyprus, we must envisage and engage withdiffering, but interacting, Epipalaeolithic to PPNA to PPNB trajectoriesin various areas of the Levant-Anatolia, allowing the extension of themainland networks to include Cyprus, with the sea thus providing animportant route of transmission and linkage, rather than a barrier. TheNeolithisation of Cyprus and the development and spread of agriculturethus become interactive processes involving both a wider maritime-linkedworld and the local terrestrial context. Acknowledgements We thank the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, and especially itsformer Director, Dr Pavlos Flourentzos, for permission to carry outfieldwork. We thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Councilof Canada, Cornell University (College of Arts and Sciences, and theDepartment of Classics) and the University of Cyprus for funding.Vasiliki Kassianidou (UCY) provided critical technical and academicassistance. Susanne Lindauer, Heidelberg, carried out sample preparationand Lukas Wacker, ETH Zurich, assisted with the AMS measurements.Michael Friedrich provided advice on the attempted speciesidentification of the fragmentary Neolithic charcoal samples, and RowenaGale provided species identification for other charcoal samples. Wethank Patti Croft for faunal work and fieldwork assistance, StephenMonckton and Leilani Espinda for palaeobotanical work, Darby Barnett andJay Noller for geomorphological assistance, Marianna Ktori forassistance with lithics, David Sewell for GIS and computer work, SandraRosendahl for survey and GIS work, and all the field team members of theEENC project (2005-2009) for their contributions. 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Stewart (4) (1) Department of Classics and Malcolm and Carolyn WienerLaboratory for Aegean and Near Eastern Dendrochronology, CornellUniversity, Ithaca, NY 14853-3201, USA (Email: sm456@cornell.edu) (2) Archaeological Research Unit, University of Cyprus, P.O. Box20537, 1678 Nicosia, Cyprus (Email: carolemcc@cytanet.com.cy) (3) Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, Im Neuenheimer Feld229, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany (Email:bernd.kromer@iup.uni-heidelberg.de) (4) Trent University Archaeological Research Centre, 1600 West BankDr., Peterborough, ON K9J 7B8, Canada (Email: salstew@gmail.com)Table 1. [sup.14]C data from Early Neolithic late PPNA contexts atAyia Varvara Asprokremnos (AVA). All samples were charcoal-charredwood. Hd = Heidelberg Radiocarbon Laboratory, samples prepared inHeidelberg and measured at the MICADAS AMS of the ETH Zurich. The[sup.14]C ages BP stated are [sup.14]C years Before Present (from AD1950) (and are uncalibrated) employing the Libby half life of 5568years. Isotopic fractionation has been corrected for employing the[delta][sup.13]C values measured during the AMS analyses. The quoted[delta][sup.13]C values are [+ or -] 1.5 per mil relative to VPDB. Theindividual (unmodelled) calibrated calendar age ranges (cal BC and calBP) at 2[sigma] (95.4% confidence), and then modelled calendar ages(cal BC and cal BP) at 95.4% probability from the analysis of thegroup as a Phase as shown in Figure 8, were calculated employing OxCal4.1.5 (Bronk Ramsey 1995, 2001, 2009) and IntCa109 (Reimer et al.2009).Lab ID Context Sample [[delta].sup.13] CBoundary startAVA PPNA occupationHd-27170/ ETH-35142 Tr 06/105 C40 -24.7Hd-27180/ ETH-35155 Tr 06/130 C31 -27.9Hd-27217/ ETH-35157 Tr 06/130 C37 -31.0Hd-27227/ ETH-35183 Tr 06/101 C27 deciduous -24.9Hd-27228/ ETH 35170 Tr 06/99 C29 deciduous -25.6Hd-27242/ ETH-35158 Tr 06/130 C38 -28.7Approximation AVA PPNA horizonBoundary end AVA PPNASpan A VA PPNA phase as dated [sup.14]C AgeLab ID yrs BP 95.4% Probability unmodelled cal BC cal BPBoundary start AVA PPNA occupationHd-27170/ ETH-35142 9465 [+ or -] 46 9119-8624 11 068-10 573Hd-27180/ ETH-35155 9477 [+ or -] 43 9119-8633 11 068-10 582Hd-27217/ ETH-35157 9525 [+ or -] 49 9141-8724 11 090-10 673Hd-27227/ ETH-35183 9452 [+ or -] 25 8807-8639 10 756-10 588Hd-27228/ ETH 35170 9432 [+ or -] 49 9107-8569 11 056-10 518Hd-27242/ ETH-35158 9497 [+ or -] 46 9126-8640 11 075-10 589Approximation AVA PPNA horizonBoundary end AVA PPNASpan A VA PPNA phase as datedLab ID 95.4% Probability modelled cal BC cal BPBoundary start AVA PPNA 8900-8730 10 849-10 679Hd-27170/ ETH-35142 8821-8701 10 770-10 650Hd-27180/ ETH-35155 8822-8706 10 771-10 655Hd-27217/ ETH-35157 8841-8711 10 790-10 660Hd-27227/ ETH-35183 8804-8709 10 753-10 658Hd-27228/ ETH 35170 8815-8686 10 764-10 635Hd-27242/ ETH-35158 8829-8710 10 778-10 659Approximation AVA PPNA 8847-8674 10 796-10 623Boundary end AVA PPNA 8792-8628 10 741-10 577Span A VA PPNA phase as dated 0-159 years