The
Department of Antiquities, Ministry of Communications and Works
announces the completion of the 2014 archaeological investigations at
the Bronze Age (ca. 2000-1500 B.C.) site of Politiko-Troullia,
conducted under the direction of Dr. Steven Falconer and Dr. Patricia
Fall of La Trobe University. Politiko-Troullia is situated
approximately 25 km southwest of Nicosia near Ayios Irakleidios
Monastery in the copper-bearing foothills of the Troodos Mountains.
The
2014 investigations expanded and deepened the excavations at
Politiko-Troullia that was the predecessor of ancient Tamassos, the
seat of a centrally important kingdom during the subsequent Iron Age.
These excavations brought to light two large courtyards that were
the scene of communal feasting during the Bronze Age that featured
abundant consumption of sheep, goat and (most intriguingly) large
numbers of hunted Mesopotamian fallow deer. Excavated animal bones
and antlers indicate that entire deer carcasses were brought to
Politiko-Troullia
for slaughtering. In conjunction with the evidence of forest-dwelling
deer, analysis of excavated charcoal fragments using a Scanning
Electron Microscope indicates that the hills surrounding
Politiko-Troullia
would have been covered with pine woodlands.
The
courtyards at Politiko-Troullia
lay adjacent to a lengthy alleyway, which was paved with layer upon
layer of broken potshards, animal bones and other debris discarded by
Politiko-Troullia’s
inhabitants. The southern courtyard has revealed the two most
striking artifacts from recent excavations: a carved limestone plank
figure standing about 40 cm (excavated in 2011) and a hollow ceramic
“askos” bird figurine (excavated in 2013). The stone plank figure
seems to be representing a female, as indicated by an incised pubic
triangle. Its highly abstract form is typical of Cypriot plank
figurines, which are normally ceramic and much smaller. This stone
plank figure is the only example excavated from a well-documented
archaeological context anywhere on Cyprus. The askos figurine depicts
a quail-like bird, missing only its head or spout. This find is
particularly intriguing, since askos figurines are most commonly
found in tomb deposits. The plank figure and askos are two components
of several lines of evidence suggesting communal, perhaps
commemorative behaviors in open public settings at the heart of this
Bronze Age settlement.
Excavations
in 2014 revealed domestic households at the northern end of the
settlement associated with evidence of copper metallurgy. Similar
evidence excavated in 2007 suggests that Bronze Age metallurgy was
practiced on a household basis. Archaeological survey of the local
landscape shows that the hills around Politiko-Troullia
have been terraced and managed for centuries, perhaps beginning as
early as the Bronze Age. Survey exploration during 2014 utilized
Ground Penetrating Radar to explore for buried architecture over an
area of about 20 hectares, which would suggest a population numbering
potentially in the hundreds and perhaps thousands.
The
archaeological deposits at Politiko-Troullia
reach depths of up to four metres below the modern surface, making
this one of the most deeply stratified sites on the island of Cyprus.
The results from Politiko-Troullia
open an archaeological window on the farming and mining communities
that provided the foundation for urbanized civilization on Cyprus.
Drs.
Falconer and Fall are particularly grateful for the kind support,
encouragement and friendship offered to their project by the people
of Pera Orinis and Politiko, most especially by mayors Costas
Miliotis and Andreas Voskaris, the teachers of Pera and Kambia
schools, friends and colleagues in the Pera community.
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4
July, 2014
