Signs of Shared Identity: Neolithic Incised Stones in Cyprus and Beyond

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Pushing the Envelope, Chasing Stone Age Sailors and Early Agriculture: Papers in Honor of the Career of Alan H. Simmons" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Enigmatic incised stones dating to the Aceramic and early Ceramic Neolithic periods indicate an element of persistent shared material culture between Cyprus and the Levant in spite of cultural trajectories and material culture assemblages that were beginning to diverge from one another. The stratigraphic sequence at the site of Prasteio-Mesorotsos in the west of Cyprus is examined here showing moments of continuity and change between these periods. This site will be looked at in the wider context of Cyprus and the Near East and the incised stones found at Mesorotsos will be discussed in relation to the PPNB and Khirokitian periods and the emergence of the Ceramic Neolithic. The development of an increasingly substantial settlement at Prasteio-Mesorotsos, coupled with the sensitive material culture expressions that were shared between settlements, indicate that an independent Cypriot identity was beginning to emerge that relied increasingly less on interaction with the mainland and more on negotiating territory in Cyprus itself.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Pushing the Envelope, Chasing Stone Age Sailors and Early Agriculture: Papers in Honor of the Career of Alan H. Simmons

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23338