Less than four miles from the sea in the valley of the Maroni River in southern Cyprus lies one of the most significant Neolithic sites in the Mediterranean. Choirokoitia (also Khirokitia, Greek: Χοιροκοιτία) is the best-preserved Pre-Pottery Neolithic settlement on Cyprus and has been radiocarbon-dated to around 7000–5200 BC.
UNESCO listed it as a World Heritage Site in 1998 for its invaluable insights into the development of human culture in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Geographically, Cyprus shares many characteristics with the Levant and Anatolia in terms of climate and environment. After the end of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B era (PPNB) in those regions, life underwent significant changes. Pottery became a standard feature of daily village life across much of the Near East.
Social changes also took place, as daily life shifted from a community-based organization to a family-centered structure. The concept of private property began to emerge, along with measures to protect it. Villages and communities developed distinct norms and customs, differentiating themselves from one another.
The island of Cyprus reflected many of these mainland traits. Yet, rather than fully adopting external cultural patterns, it developed a distinctive tradition known as the Choirokoitia culture, named after the settlement of Choirokoitia itself, which represents Cyprus’s unique form of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic.
Neolithic site in Cyprus discovered in 1934
The site of Choirokoitia has been known for almost a century, first excavated in 1934. At that time, archaeologists considered it the oldest human habitation in Cyprus. By the 1980s, further research confirmed that the settlement was occupied as early as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (10,000–8,200 BC).
Following the discovery of earlier Neolithic sites, researchers determined that the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B occupation in Cyprus had ultimately failed, and its inhabitants vanished from the island. Later, new settlers from the mainland re-established the community, initiating what became known as the Choirokoitia culture.
Additional Neolithic sites discovered in later years, combined with radiocarbon dating, indicate that Cyprus was inhabited continuously from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A period through the emergence of the Choirokoitia culture and for several centuries beyond.
The Neolithic village with the round houses in Cyprus
The village extends over approximately 3 hectares (7.4 acres) at its maximum size and is one of the most important prehistoric sites in the Eastern Mediterranean. It represents the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period in Cyprus at its height, reflecting the successful establishment of the first farming communities by settlers arriving from the Near East.
Excavations have shown that the settlement consisted of circular houses and structures built from mudbrick and stone with flat roofs, protected by successive fortification walls, and a complex architectural layout providing controlled access to the village was revealed. The construction of such sophisticated planning, following a deliberate design, demonstrates a significant collective effort.
Few known parallels in the Near East suggest that such social organization existed, allowing the creation of villages with large-scale features designed for the common good. The houses contained several circular buildings with built-in hearths and basins, arranged around small courtyards where daily domestic activities took place.
An interesting discovery was that the dead were buried in pits beneath the rammed earthen floors of the houses, suggesting that the living sought to remain close to their deceased family members. Researchers also uncovered flint tools, bone implements, stone vessels, animal and plant remains, and anthropomorphic figurines made of stone or clay. These finds indicate that the people of this period practiced funerary rituals and held some form of religious beliefs.
Researchers reconstructed five houses and a section of the defensive wall at an off-site location to make the site more accessible to visitors.
Did Choirokoitia interact with the mainland?
The question remains whether the Choirokoitia culture maintained interactions with mainland cultures throughout the Neolithic periods. This uncertainty arises because the culture differs in several ways from those on the mainland. The main difference is that Choirokoitia houses are round, while nearly all contemporary mainland settlements feature rectangular structures.
There are also notable differences in the stone tools created by Choirokoitia inhabitants. For instance, the pressure-flaking technique widely utilized across Anatolia, the Levant, and Mesopotamia never appeared in Cyprus.
The biggest difference, however, is in the pottery, which emerged and was integrated into daily life at varying times across the mainland Near East. In Cyprus, pottery appears very late, after the end of the Choirokoitia culture (around 5000 BC). Instead, people in Choirokoitia crafted carved stone bowls. Stone bowls made in Cyprus before 7000 BC were typically fashioned from softer stones, such as limestone.
During the Choirokoitia culture, this changed to a preference for much harder stone, usually grey-green in color. The bowls also became more elaborately decorated, with designs carved in relief on the exterior. The same stone was used to carve figurines. On the mainland, these were mostly human figurines, while in Choirokoitia, they were more abstract, usually lacking anatomical details such as male or female distinctions.
Stone was also carved into elaborate designs on pebbles, which appear to have been associated with specific individuals. Researchers have debated whether these were used as sealing stamps, similar to artifacts found from the same period in the Northern Levant and Northern Mesopotamia.
Cyprus’ slow move to the pottery era
The fact that the inhabitants of Choirokoitia continued carving stone while the Near East mainland had long transitioned to the Pottery Neolithic led researchers to suggest that Cyprus became isolated after the “collapse” of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B interaction sphere. The people of Choirokoitia maintained a Pre-Pottery Neolithic lifestyle for an additional 1,500 to 2,000 years after the mainland had adopted pottery.
This long delay in the spread of pottery, combined with a reduction in the amount of obsidian imported into Cyprus after 7000 BC, has reinforced the idea of Cypriot isolation following the collapse of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B interaction network.
Evidence for Cyprus’s relative isolation from mainland Near Eastern societies includes:
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Retention of traditional burials in Choirokoitia, with single interments beneath house floors and shaped heads
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Persistence of round houses, a style that had disappeared on the mainland during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic
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Noticeable decline in the importation of obsidian
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Absence of pottery in daily life until after the end of the Choirokoitia culture
After about 7000 BC, Cyprus saw a significant decrease in imported obsidian, which had been used as a substitute for clay—a trend similarly observed in the Levant and Mesopotamia. During the Choirokoitia period, the obsidian reaching the island came from the Cappadocia region, the same source utilized by Ceramic Neolithic cultures in the Levant and northern Mesopotamia.
Researchers have concluded that Cyprus was not isolated but rather independent, maintaining its own cultural trajectory since the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B. This perspective views Cyprus as a region where the traditions of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A persisted throughout the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period.
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