Khirokitia settlement is located within about 6 km of the actual southern coastline of the island. It has been inscribed since 1998 on UNESCO's World Heritage List. The site was discovered and investigated between 1936 and 1946 by P. Dikaios (Department of Antiquities, Cyprus) and from 1976 to 2009 by the French Archaeological Mission (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Ministry of Foreign Affairs), under the direction of Dr. Alain Le Brun (CNRS).
The circular buildings of the Neolithic settlement spread over the sides of a hill, surrounded by the meander of a river. The village, the maximum extent of which may be estimated to 3 h, is a closed space, surrounded by an impressive enclosure wall which outline has been modified several times. Its economy relies on agriculture and sheep/goat herding, combined with gathering wild plants and hunting fallow deer.
The richness and the diversity of the cultural, environmental and anthropological data allow multiple approaches providing insight into the outcome, in the second half of the 7th mil. B.C., of a colonization process which started around the beginning of the 9th mil. B.C. This documentation, based on a long and consistent stratigraphic sequence, constitutes a reference point for following the elaboration of the Late Aceramic Neolithic of Cyprus, the so-called “Khirokitia Culture” and investigating the changes and continuities in the environment, subsistence strategies, craft techniques and activities organization, architectural practices, social organization and rituals.
Click for a virtual overview of the site.
The publication project is directed by Drs. Laurence Astruc and Françoise Le Mort
