Geoarchaeology of earthen Cypriot architecture: Integrated analyses of mudbricks from Middle Bronze Age Cyprus

Abstract

Mudbricks constitute an integral part of prehistoric architecture in Cyprus. As a key material of building construction, mudbricks possess more than just structural information and environmental data; they represent optimal indicators to identify the production choices as means for social representation and communication. Results obtained from the multi-proxy analysis of mudbrick materials recovered and sampled at the Middle Bronze Age site of Erimi-Laonin tou Porakou (c. 1950–1650 BCE) are presented in this paper as a geoarchaeological examination of prehistoric earthen architecture in Cyprus. The analysis revises previously developed and published results (see Amadio, 2017) and integrates them on the basis of newly acquired macro and micro evidence. For the present study, mudbricks were preliminary examined in the field and further analysed by high-resolution micromorphological, spectroscopic and geochemical analyses with the aim of generating new interdisciplinary data to study aspects of procurement strategies, and technological choices operated by local workers at Erimi. Results indicate that materials were sourced locally according to their easy accessibility, however, the expert selection of sediments and tempers in the mixtures points toward an organised craft production. The identification of proper recipes in mudbricks and the consistency in shape and size observed in the intact materials recovered at the site, as well as the accomplishment of a large-scale project such as the construction of the productive area of the settlement -the workshop complex- suggest the existence of cooperative forms of labour in the construction practices, which were possibly organised at the supra-household level and were based on high-level technological knowledge.