The pre-Neolithic in the Troodos Mountains of Cyprus

Archaeologists working at the pre-Neolithic site of Rhoudias, situated in the south foothills of the Troodos Mountains next to the Xenos river in Cyprus have recently revealed that this site was repeatedly visited by groups of hunter-gatherers.

A mountain route

General view of Rhoudias site. Image: Republic of Cyprus Department of Antiquities


The field season was conducted in late November 2010 by a group of postgraduate students from the University of Thessaloniki along with other Cypriot archaeologists and researchers. The director, Professor Nikolaos Efstratiou said the site was part of a route from the coast to the mountains and vice-versa where hunter-gatherers would stay for short periods of time on the journey.
The 2010 excavation was aimed at exploring the environmental dynamics and the geomorphology of the Xeros River terrace on which the site is situated. Professor Efstratiou explained that these factors must have greatly affected the decisions made by the hunter-gatherer groups who seem to have visited this area frequently throughout the island’s early prehistory. The lithic assemblages recovered from the excavations shows the site was used between 10,000–6,000BC.
Exploring the past environment
A geoarchaeological investigation confirmed the initial observations on the site’s stratigraphy concerning the relationship between the presence of tools and the existence of defined depositional episodes (e.g. palaeosols) which then led to the identification of palaeosurfaces and consequently to the reconstruction of the site’s palaeoenvironmental history.

Excavation trench showing the stratigraphy. Image: Republic of Cyprus Department of Antiquities
Fitting Cyprus into the wider picture
The Cyprus Department of Antiquities confirmed that the hundreds of finds consisted mainly of lithic tools dated to the pre-Neolithic phase of Roudhias, however they cautioned that absolute dating from the Roudhias site was still pending.
The 2010 excavation confirmed the initial assessments of the project coordinators concerning the role that the mountainous hinterland played in the processes taking place at the end of the Pleistocene and the beginning of the Holocene, shortly before 10,000BC.
The Department added that the activity at this site should be viewed in relation to the wider archaeological picture of the Middle East at the time, with more evidence of closer contact with the Levant and the Neolithic technologies and concepts they brought.


Past Horizons