Cyprus enters the Neolithic age armed with hundreds of years of history. Humans arrive on the island in the Paleolithic period, which spans 2.5 million years ago to 10,000 BCE, the end of the Ice Age.
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Before the Paleolithic, Cyprus is home to pygmy hippos (Hippopotamus minor), dwarf elephants (Elephas cypriotes) and other small animals. Like unique Madagascar species they're thought have been swept out to sea, and develop independently on the island.
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Associations are found between the Cyprus animals and artifacts of those from the era on the southern coast of Cyprus. The extinction of pygmy hippos and dwarf elephants is linked to the arrival of Homo sapiens on Cyprus.
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Piles of burned bones are discovered in the sites occupied by the early humans. They inhabit the caves of the southernmost point on the Island, and consume every last pygmy hippopotamus.
In this period the use of flint for tools, axes, arrowheads and knife blades is popular. Flint has excellent cleavage and can be hammered to a sharp edge. Ax heads are hand held at first, and further develop when attached to handles with bitumen or resin.
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The Epipaleolithic period c. 22,000 - 9600 BCE is a time of human transformation. Many people move from nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles in the Upper Paleolithic to sedentary agrarian villagers in the Neolithic.
Early agricultural efforts are supplemented by fishing and hunting. Development of grains and livestock into modern versions takes hundreds of years. A type of flax, Linum strictum, grown on Cyprus is primarily used for its fibers to make linen, edible seeds and pressed oil.
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Aceramic Neolithic (non-pottery producers)
The earliest sign of Neolithic settlement on Cyprus dates to 8800 - 8600 BCE. The first settlers are agriculturalists who don't yet produce pottery. They introduce the dog as well as livestock such as sheep, goats, cattle and pigs.
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The Neolithic inhabitants also bring wild animals like foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and Persian fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica) into the environment. In the Neolithic attempts are made to domesticate foxes, as worked well for dogs, but the fox proves too independent.
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Settlers build round houses with floors made of burned lime terrazzo, and cultivate einkorn and emmer wheat. Pig, sheep, goat and cattle are kept. Evidence for cattle is rare. They die out c. 7000 BCE, to be reintroduced in the early Bronze Age.
In the c. 5000s BCE, the aceramic Choirokoitia (Khirokitia) culture features round houses (tholoi) and stone vessels. Life is agrarian and pastoral or herding, based economically on sheep, goats and pigs, with no sign of cattle.
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Daily life is spent farming and hunting. Animal husbandry and the lithic industry (making of stone tools) develops. Homesteaders spindle and weave fibers and fabrics, sew, cook, grind grain, care for children. In early cultures it's women who keep the oil lamps burning.
Lithic industry is the most specific trait of the culture. Artifacts of grey andesite, an igneous rock, are discovered during excavations. The houses have foundations of river pebbles. Neolithic terrazzo floors, predecessors to Italian style, use crushed stone, ocher and lime.
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The round buildings are mudbrick using local clays. Sometimes several houses join together to form a cluster or compound. Some houses have diameters up to 10 m (33 ft). Inhumation burials are typical of Neolithic sites, with bodies stashed inside the houses.
In western Cyprus, water wells discovered by archaeologists are thought to be among the oldest in the world, dated to 8200 - 6800 BCE in the Stone Age. Plant remains indicate cultivation of cereals, lentils, beans, peas and Bullace, a kind of plum.
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Remains of animal species found during excavations include those of Persian fallow deer, goat, sheep, mouflon (a wild sheep) and pig. More remains indicate red deer (Cervus elaphu) and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). A type of horse and dog remains appear.
Life expectancy is short. The average age at death is c. 34 years. Rate of infant mortality is high. The earliest pet burial to date are the remains of an 8-month-old cat with its human owner at a Neolithic archeological site in Cyprus, in a grave from c. 7200 BCE.
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Around 6000 BCE the aceramic Neolithic civilization ends. Almost 1,500 years pass, until c. 4500 BCE heralds the emergence of Neolithic II (Ceramic Neolithic) culture. Newcomers to Cyprus introduce a neo Neolithic era.
The main settlement of this time is Sotira near the south coast of Cyprus. The ceramic Sotira phase (Neolithic II) has monochrome vessels with combed decoration. The settlement consists of almost fifty houses. Most are a single room with its own fireplace or hearth.
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The houses are furnished with benches, platforms and partitions creating places of work or sleeping. Free-standing houses are typically square with rounded corners. Sub-rectangular houses have two or three rooms.
In Khirokitia, the remains of the Sotira phase overlay the aceramic remains. There are Sotira-ceramics in the earliest levels of Erimi as well. In the North of the island, the ceramic levels of Troulli equate with those of Sotira in the South.
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The Sotira Neolithic settlement in Limassol, Cypurs stands on a hill 5 km (3.1 mi) from the coast. It dates back to the ceramic Neolithic period, when an estimated 150 people live there. As later settlements come in, population grows until the hill is covered in houses.
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