The Beginnings of Pyrotechnology in Cyprus

Abstract

In Cyprus, lime and gypsum mortars have been used since the earliest periods of antiquity, alongside mud mortars, constituting primarily plaster coatings. Although the production of lime and gypsum seems to have been known since the Neolithic period, coinciding with the first permanent habitation on the island, this production was widely disseminated in the Middle Chalcolithic period. The use of gypsum plaster over time remains somewhat limited and can be found only in some particular parts of the structures. The availability of plaster technology during the first periods of antiquity in Cyprus is not surprising, since during previous periods similar plasters appear in neighboring civilizations. The first use of crushed brick-lime plasters in the Late Bronze Age coincides with a general evolution of architecture. These data have been concluded by the detailed study of 120 samples collected from various archaeological sites of prehistoric Cyprus, followed by the chemical and mineral analyses of 70 selected samples and finally by thermal analyses and observations on the microstructure of the most representative examples with the help of a scanning electron microscope. The particular use of each plaster was investigated through examination of the geomorphological, technological, functional as well as economic factors.