Geoarchaeology of the AkrotiriAetokremnos rockshelter, Southern Cyprus

Abstract

Akrotiri Aetokremnos is a collapsed rockshelter on the southern coast of Cyprus. Excavations revealed a 1-m-thick package of sandy deposits preserved beneath massive roof-fall blocks. These deposits contained cultural materials in direct association with extinct pygmy hippopotamus and other fauna. Based on 31 radiocarbon assays, the site was occupied around 10,600 B.P. Four major stratigraphic units were defined, with cultural features and artifacts concentrated in Strata 2 and 4. Most of the sediments that accumulated in the rockshelter are a product of roof fall, disintegration of bedrock (attrition), and wind action. In addition, a small volume of slopewash entered the back of the shelter through solution cavities and is confined to less than 5% of the site. Although some of the strata have been slightly affected by leaching and clay translocation, there is no evidence of soil development in the shelter. The physical and geochemical properties of the strata indicate that the sediments and associated cultural materials rapidly accumulated on the floor of the shelter soon before the roof collapsed and isolated the underlying deposits from subareal weathering and other site-disturbance processes. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.