Fishing activity in Cyprus through time: An archaeologically neglected aspect in Cypriot society

Abstract

Fishing can be defined as an everyday, solitary, or team activity aimed at catching fish for food, trade, or other cultural purposes. To accomplish this activity, the fisher designs, creates, and uses fishing technology, which is comprised of different types of fishing gear/tools and methods. In this article, an examination of the archaeological evidence of fishing technology recovered from archaeological sites in ancient Cyprus in conjunction with ichthyological, iconographic, written, environmental, and ethnographic data is presented to shed light on the understanding of fishing activity in Cyprus from the Neolithic to the Early Christian period (10th millennium BC – mid 7th century CE).