Historical dynamics of the human-environment interactions in Cyprus during the 12th-10th millennia cal. BP: The last 30 years contributions of the Amathous area (Limassol district)

Abstract

The interdisciplinary approach and analytical tools applied in the last 30 years in the Amathous region (Cyprus), especially at the sites of Shillourokambos and Klimonas, generated a huge quantity of archaeological, geoarchaeological and bioarchaeological data. They significantly contributed to document the interactions between the early Neolithic human societies and the environment and natural resources of an isolated island, during this pivotal period when both the climate and the human subsistence strategies went through radical changes. This paper briefly reviews these changes through several insights: hydrological changes and their impact on the establishment and preservation of Neolithic sites; plant and vertebrate faunal evolution, especially as a consequence of the introduction of new wild and domestic species in the island; birth and evolution of the commensal fauna (e.g. mice, cats); local domestication of wild boar and goats; adaptation and intensification of cultivation and breeding to the local environments. Altogether, these insights can provide a heuristic model at a regional scale to further understand the incipient human niche construction of the Eastern Mediterranean area.