Vasilikos Valley Project: Second Preliminary Report, 1977

Abstract

During the summer of 1977 a second season of excavation and field survey was undertaken in the Vasilikos valley area of Larnaca District in southern Cyprus. Excavations at the aceramic and ceramic Neolithic site of Kalavasos-Tenta revealed an extensive curvilinear stone architectural complex on the top of the site consisting of a central circular house with two parallel outer ring walls. To the east of this complex, remains of well-preserved oval mud-brick buildings on stone foundations were encountered over an extensive area. On the southern slopes of the site other circular stone houses were excavated. Excavation also showed that the most extensive wall excavated by P. Dikaios is preserved to a much greater height than was thought in 1976. A trench in the ceramic area of the site revealed only a water-laid deposit of very friable, heavily encrusted sherds. The aceramic artifactual yield continues to resemble that of the nearby site of Khirokitia with a few clear differences. A small number of obsidian blades provides evidence of contact with the Anatolian mainland. 14C determinations suggest the dating of the aceramic phase of the site to the second half of the 6th millennium B.C., but two 7th millennium dates (earlier than any previously obtained in Cyprus) remain to be explained.The field survey of the valley in which Tenta is located has revealed extensive occupation in most phases of Cypriote prehistory and history. The lack of later Chalcolithic and earlier Early Bronze Age material remains to be investigated. The Middle Bronze Age seems to mark the apogee of prehistoric settlement. Sites of all periods through the Mediaeval are being recorded in order to compile data on the settlement system of the valley throughout the various phases of its occupation.Preliminary specialist studies are included concerning ceramics, lithics, flora, fauna, geographical, geologic, and ethnographic aspects of the project.