The Ethnoarchaeology of Stone Craft Production in Athienou, Cyprus

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The town of Athienou in Cyprus lies at the southern edge of the fertile Mesaoria Plain. In addition to its agricultural focus, the region has been home to many traditional crafts, such as the making of lace and cheese. In addition, artisans have fashioned a variety of objects from the local limestone called "the stone of Athienou". Ancient sculptors made extensive use of this material to fashion statues, many of which formed the foundational assemblage of the fledgling Metropolitan Museum in New York. Excavation of a rural sanctuary at Malloura by the Athienou Archaeological Project (AAP) has recovered over a thousand sculptural pieces made of the local material. Use of these stone quarries has persisted to the present. This study focuses on the nature of work at the local quarries as documented through interviews with current stone workers. These individuals extract the stone and shape several types of vessels (bowls and basins), millstones, and construction materials. The AAP survey revealed the sources of bedded limestone and gypsum. The interviews provide details about quarrying procedures and the structure of the labor force. These investigations offer insights into an important local industry that thrived from antiquity to the recent past.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24395