Overview
The Athienou Archaeological Project (AAP) is an interdisciplinary investigation of the site of Athienou-Malloura and the surrounding valley in central Cyprus (Figures 1 and 2). Since 1990, field survey, geophysical prospecting, and stratigraphic excavations at Athienou-Malloura relocated the Cypro-Archaic-Roman sanctuary that was originally discovered in 1862, and exposed portions of the large, nucleated settlement that was established in the Roman period. Occupation of this town continued through early Byzantine times, but Malloura was abandoned during the period of Arab raids in the 7th century AC. The settlement was re-established during the Late Medieval (Frankish) era, and finally abandoned late in the 19th century. Systematic survey of 20 sq km around Athienou-Malloura identified 30 sites, including prehistoric lithic workshops, tomb groups dating from the Cypro-Archaic through Roman periods, small Classical/Hellenistic habitation sites, and look-out posts utilized from Late Roman through Ottoman times. Several small outlying sites related to the settlement at Malloura were also recorded.
Excavation at the site of Athienou-Malloura has revealed three large Late Antique and medieval structures (two residential, one perhaps industrial), a large Archaic-Roman religious sanctuary, a late medieval cemetery, and a number of classical tombs. As in the 1994 season the main focus of last year's investigations was the Archaic-Roman rural sanctuary. Additionally, a crew worked at the Magara Tepesi ("Hill of the Tombs") cemetery N of the sanctuary. Geophysical prospecting continued at both areas. This season, however, in addition to electrical resistivity and magnetometry, a Ground Penetrating Radar, kindly loaned by the University of Thessaloniki, was employed as well. Moreover, pollen samples were collected from the valley for analysis, and specialized studies (e.g., animal and human bones, ceramics, glass) continued in preparation for the final publication
In the sanctuary area, in addition to continuing work within the main excavated part of the sanctuary, three new Excavation Units (EU) were opened up to the S and W. Their main purpose was to ascertain the sanctuary's limits and earlier history. EU 16, at the SE part of the sanctuary, revealed a large pit running along the line of the south temenos wall which was itself entirely robbed out. The pit seems to continue further to the W suggesting that the south temenos wall was at least 25 m in length. Also heavily pitted, but not entirely devoid of finds, was EU 88, a long exploratory trench running N-S just W of EU 10. EU 14, a 3x4 m trench further to the W, explored further a structure associated with intense burning exposed in 1994. This coarse clay-lined feature is circular with a diameter of ca. 0.80 m.; though not completely excavated it seems that it was a kiln or an oven, rather than an altar. It is situated 'within' a junction of two walls meeting at their north and east ends. The walls may turn out to form the NW corner of the temenos.
In addition to large amounts of pottery, last year's finds comprised fragmentary stone vessels, terracotta figurines of warriors and animals, metal artifacts (including a miniature votive bronze spear or arrow), and limestone statuary. Several fine limestone statuette heads were found largely intact, compacted within the late 4th cent. floor packing. Among them was a head with an Egyptian headdress and another of a helmeted Herakles (Figure 3) - both of late Archaic date.
Our investigations among the tombs at the N periphery of the site where four rock-cut Hellenistic-Roman chamber tombs were excavated in past seasons (Figure 4) yielded interesting and unexpected results, such as the discovery near Ts. 27 and 28 of a rock-cut cistern which may be connected with funerary rituals. Moreover, a cluster of tombs (Ts. 50-53) was excavated some distance to the NW of the Hellenistic-Roman ones. Smaller and less pretentious than their later counterparts, these tombs date to the Cypro-Archaic period and push back the use of this cemetery by three centuries.
The specialized studies conducted by the AAP include geophysical prospecting, the analysis of human and animal remains, and studies of ancient and modern lithic technology.
Geophysical investigations in Athienou-Malloura have been conducted in three phases. The first phase of the geophysical investigation (1990) were limited in the area of coverage (3,000 sq m). A few blocks were measured by magnetic and soil resistance techniques. The results of the first campaign were successful in identifying the depth of the occupation layers of the site through measurements of the soil magnetic susceptibility. A few more blocks were studied in the area of the tombs in an effort to investigate the possibility of detecting tombs by magnetic techniques. The interior of a small tomb was also studied through the application of magnetic techniques. In the second phase (1994) geophysical prospection continued through the application of magnetic and soil resistance techniques studying an area further to the north. The research has been able to locate a number of isolated anomalies as well as linear features, probably related to remnants of wall structures.
In the third season of the geophysical investigations an area of about 4000 sq m was covered by magnetic and soil resistance techniques. The geophysical survey was conducted in the area surrounding the excavation trenches. In addition, a ground penetrating radar survey was carried out with emphasis in the area of the tombs. Various targets have been located, some of which are considered as possible candidates for future excavations. Processing of the geophysical data is under way and the correlation of the geophysical maps with the results of past excavations will be able to provide an integrated picture of the archaeological features of the site.
Our lithic analysis focuses in part of the various used of stone for agricultural purposes. In particular, we have studies the use of threshing sledges. The threshing sledge (Ancient Greek: tribolos, tikani; Latin: tribulum; Modern Greek: dhoukani) was a common agricultural tool in the Mediterranean region for five or six thousand years until it was replaced by modern farm machinery in the 1950s and 1960s. The threshing sledge typically consists of one or two thick wooden planks (if two, they are fastened together securely) with one end curved upward so that the implement can channel grain stalks to its underside. The bottom surface has staggered rows of wedge-shaped slots into which are fitted pieces of chert; on occasion, metal runner substitute for the flakes and form the cutting edge. A person stands or sits on the upper surface of the boards while a draft animal pulls the sledge around an aloni (a dirt or stone threshing floor) on which are placed harvest grain stalks (Gjerstad, 1980:79; Isager and Skydsgaard, 1992: Fig. 23; Young, 1956:124). The flints or metal runners chop the stalks and also separate the kernels of grain from the stem. Threshing is the necessary step prior to winnowing, and thus the sledge was a critically important part of the ancient Mediterranean farmer's inventory.
We examined the morphology of 13 historic sledge flints collected in Greece by Curtis Runnels and one of the authors (Kardulias), and a sample of 23 flints that were collected in 1991 and 1992 during our systematic survey of the Malloura Valley. We also examined all of the Greek flints and six of the flints from Cyprus for the microwear traces (the Greek flints were examined in the OSU archaeological labs, while the Cyprus flints had to be studied in the field).
Eighteen of the sledge flints (78%) recovered during the AAP survey were found within one km radius of the Turkish Cypriot village of Petrofani. Nearly 150 people lived in this village from circa 1870 until 1974 when they were removed to the Turkish occupied areas in northern Cyprus. The sledge flints that we found may be associated with threshing floors lying outside of Petrofani that have been used since the late Ottoman period. Two sledge flints were recovered 2.3 km south of Petrofani on the surface of the Athienou-Malloura site, in areas occupied during the Late Roman/Byzantine (AD 100-600) and Venetian (AD 1489-1571) periods (Herscher 1995: 281-82). A single sledge flint was found on the surface of a small Late Roman/Byzantine site located 2.85 km north of the Malloura site and 1.25 km northwest of Petrofani, and another was found near a recently abandoned mud brick structure that lies about halfway between Malloura and Petrofani. A biface that was included in our sample of possible threshing sledge flints was found 1.3 km southeast of Athienou-Malloura, in an area that is also called "Malloura" on the cadastral and topographic maps. Microwear traces on this biface indicated that it was not a threshing sledge insert, but that it may have been used to scrape hide or some unidentified soft material.
The sample from the Malloura survey contains three made on blades and 19 others on long ovate flakes (four cortical, 18 non-cortical). As with the first sample, some pieces are moderately thick, and exhibit minimal retouch. The dimensions and morphology of these pieces reflect some standardization; the average length of 40.26 mm compares to 59-45 mm for archaeological sites and 37 mm for ethnographic examples reported by Fox (1984) for dhoukania flints from sw Cyprus. A characteristic trait of all the survey pieces is a heavily rounded edge, usually near the proximal end. This rounding was caused by intensive contact with the surface of the aloni. As both Fox (1984: 65) and Whallon (1978) indicate, secondary retouch is minimal.
Five of the six specimens from the Malloura survey that were examined exhibit the same kinds of microwear traces found on the ethnographic sledge flints from Greece (the other implement was used as a scraper; see above). All five have continuous and invasive polish extending more than eight mm in from the edge all along one lateral margin. Like the Greek flints, the wear on the dorsal and ventral surfaces was uneven, and wear traces include well-developed lustrous plant polish, linear striations, and extensive edge damage and rounding. However, while the comet-shaped pits that are associated with cutting grain (Gijn 1989: 40; Keeley 1980: 60-61) are more common on the Cypriote flints, the presence of stone-on-stone polish is not common, suggesting that the Malloura sledges were used on earthen, rather than stone, threshing floors.
Our work has implications for the study of early agriculture in the eastern Mediterranean. In sum, microwear analysis reveals a suite of traits unique to threshing. All the flints exhibit well developed invasive plant gloss on both dorsal and ventral surfaces. The polish is usually equally distributed over both faces, but occasionally it is heavier on one surface. There are striae parallel or slightly acute to one lateral margin, which is heavily abraded and rounded; some crushing also appears on this edge. We suspect that those pieces with the greatest degree of edge crushing were used in sledges pulled over stone floors. It is the extent and intensity of the polish in conjunction with the considerable abrasion and the direction of the striae that distinguish threshing sledge flints from other flaked lithics used to cut grass (e.g., sickle elements).
In the course of the surface survey, we have identified four lithic scatters that may date to the Aceramic Neolithic period. Site 9, a lithic workshop, was discovered on the surface of one of the low ridges that extend eastward from the hills that border the Malloura Valley on the west. Cores, large flakes, and a few blades made of pink and weathered white and tan chert were concentrated on the exposed bedrock and thin mantle of soil on the crest of the eastward sloping ridge. The heavily patinated condition of the artifacts, the large size of the flakes, and the dearth of ceramics (only two pieces were found, both on a slope a considerable distance from the main lithic concentration) suggest an AN cultural affiliation. Our preliminary interpretation is that the site served as a workshop where early stages of stone tool production were completed. Formal tools are rare, but elements of both a generalized blade technology and a flake industry are present (cf. Todd 1989:8). Only 2.5% of the assemblage (10 of 398) were blades. Affinities with the Neolithic industries in western Cyprus described by Adovasio et al. (1974) are not clear. Site 9 is located south of the hill known as Chakmaklik ("Hill of Flint" in Turkish), and the chert (or flint) that was processed by the Neolithic inhabitants may have been obtained from chert beds of the Chalk and Chert Member of the Middle Lapithos Formation that outcrop there.
A second prehistoric component was recorded at Site 11, a small lithic scatter 300 m north of Site 9; the similarities with the Site 9 assemblage also suggested an AN affiliation. In the complete collection of 13 pieces from the site, there are no blades. In 1992, the only prehistoric component appeared at Site 15. The site is located on a low hill overlooking the plain west of the Malloura Valley. The grainy local gray chert outcrops on the hill and the gentle slopes are littered with the debris of extraction and preliminary tool manufacture. The Site 15 assemblage resembles that from Site 9; there are only two blades (4.2%) among the 48 pieces picked up in randomly selected samples. A fourth small lithic scatter, site 28, was found in 1994 on the northwestern edge of Chakmaklik. No blades were recovered, but some large weathered flakes similar to those found at site 11 were found here.
A possible fifth prehistoric component appeared at the Modern Turkish village of Petrofani (Site 12), where a ground stone bowl fragment and some chipped stone artifacts that may date to the AN period were included in the grab samples that were collected around the village and adjacent Turkish cemetery.
Typologically, the assemblage from these sites includes cores, blades, elongated flakes, tabular flakes, foliate flakes, and other detritus, both cortical and non-cortical (Figure 5). Preliminary analysis of the flaked lithics from the three AAP sites reveals similarities to the assemblages from other AN sites, and reflects the differences between the Aceramic Neolithic (AN), Ceramic Neolithic (CN), and Chalcolithic industries first noted by Stekelis (1961). He found that the industries of Khirokitia (AN), Sotira (CN) and Erimi (Chalocolithic) were definitely distinct. Large irregular blades are common in the AN assemblages, while smaller squarish or pointed blades characterize the CN industry. Several forms of scrapers are common in the AN and Chalcolithic collections, while only end scrapers or double end scrapers on blades were usually made by the CN people. Blades are more common in the CN assemblages, but the pedunculated blades, gravers, and points that are found in AN collections were absent (Stekelis 1961).
Waechter (1953: 414-415) compared the AN lithic assemblage from Khirokitia with Chalcolithic chipped stone artifacts from Erimi Pamboula. He concluded that the AN assemblage is a simple industry of broad blade flakes retouched to produce backed blades, end and side scrapers, simple burins, and some sickles. Points are rare, and the round and discoidal scrapers that characterize the Erimi industry are absent. While broad flakes and blades are present in the Chalcolithic assemblage, most of the blades from Erimi were narrow, and exhibited finer retouch. At present we have no evidence for a Neolithic settlement in the immediate vicinity of these chert extraction sites, so we must question where the quarried material was taken. The nearest known Neolithic habitation is Dhali Agridhi (Lehavy 1989) which lies 6 km due west of Chakmaklik. Second, the assemblage includes some blades, but also a substantial number of large, irregular flakes. There is no evidence for specialized production, but this is not uncommon at quarry sites (Torrence 1986). The blades and flakes both compare favorably in size and configuration to such blanks from other excavated AN sites on Cyprus. Third, although we have few formal tools in our assemblage, those we do have exhibit retouch similar to that from the other AN locations, i.e., large, marginal, and mostly irregular. Although Neolithic peoples certainly used lithics for a variety of purposes, there are relatively few distinct tool types. This suggests that flaked stone blanks served a variety of unspecialized tasks; it is probable that a number of the unretouched pieces also served as ad hoc tools. In addition, the low percentage of blades at Sites 9 and 15, compared to other AN sites, is a function of the quarry status of these two locations. At quarries one would expect to find highly irregular blanks, formed in the process of primary reduction. The large, unstandardized blank dimensions indicate testing or preliminary work of nodules prior to removal from the site. Thus, we have a sense of the variation present on AN sites: there were differences between procurement, settlement, and special function sites, variation which the lithic assemblages reflect. Differences with other AN assemblages, especially as described by Stekelis, center on two issues: 1) contrary to Stekelis' observation concerning the Khirokitia material, the lithics from the Malloura sites have heavy patination. The Khirokitia material he described came from excavated contexts in which the desert varnish could not develop. 2) While Stekelis found extensive evidence for the use of soft hammer technique, the flakes and blades in our sample have the large thick bulbs characteristic of hard hammer preparation. In addition, we found virtually no platform preparation, even for blades. The lack of any noticeable microwear on the vast majority of the lithics in our sample correlates with our initial assessment of the sites as basic processing stations where raw material was quarried and cores roughed out.
The osteological work at the site has focused on material from two areas: 1) the tombs on Magara Tepesi at the north end of the site, and 2) the late Medieval cemetery in the center of Malloura. Another paper in this session will discuss some of this skeletal material. Suffice it to say that the human remains from the tombs provide a puzzling array of fragments in disarray because of looting; continual reuse by a kin group is suggested by the quantity of bones and the relative wealth of the grave offerings. Preliminary work on the skeletons in the medieval cemetery indicates the presence of 22 individuals; of those complete enough to make the determination, there are one infant, four subadults, one adolescent (12-21 years), five young adults, and one person over age 30; the last of these individuals suffered from a variety of afflictions: hypercementosis on P4, near total reabsorption of the mandibular alveoli, and severe osteoarthritis. The two most complete bodies (Burials 6.11 and 6.16), however, revealed no traumas, abnormalities, or diseases (Lease 1994). The work in other areas of physical anthropology included the beginning of an anthropometric study in the village of Athienou. The idea is to provide a baseline of information from the modern population to gauge physiological variation over time in this part of the island. The first stage of the study involved measurements of a sample of over 120 children in the local elementary school (Grades 1-6). Future work will expand this database.
The analysis of faunal material from Malloura (Mortensen 1995) indicates the site residents exploited a number of different animal species; in decreasing order of frequency (and probably dietary importance) they are: ovicaprids, pigs, cattle, and chickens. There is also evidence for dogs, horses, and rabbits. The contexts of the bones suggest butchering and consumption on site in most periods. The structure with the most animal bones is an unusual late Medieval building with a series of parallel walls which supported a wooden floor; the building may have served an industrial or communal purpose in the community.
The AAP investigations provide new data on the long-term history and use of rural settlements in central Cyprus that can be compared with nearby centers at Idalion and Golgoi, and large urban coastal sites such as Salamis, Kition, Amathus, and Paphos. While prehistoric use of the Malloura valley was confined to lithic extraction, ritual activities led to the establishment of a sanctuary and necropolis during the Cypro-Archaic period that continued to be used until Roman times. A substantial nucleated settlement was established in the 1st century BC (early Roman period), and this "traditional" nucleated settlement pattern with extensive cultivation of dispersed vineyards, orchards, and fields in the surrounding valley has continued to the present day.
References
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