Archaeologists have uncovered building remains and pottery that extend the documented history of Hala Sultan Tekke in Cyprus to the 17th century B.C. The finds, announced Tuesday by the Cyprus Department of Antiquities, provide new evidence of the earliest occupation of a settlement that later became one of the Mediterranean’s major Bronze Age trading centers.
An international team led by Peter M. Fischer of the University of Gothenburg and Teresa Bürge of the universities of Gothenburg and Bern conducted the excavations in February, May and June. Work focused on City Quarter 1, where researchers investigated three early occupation layers known as Strata 4, 5 and 6.
The department said the team had uncovered “stratified architectural remains and diagnostic pottery” dating to the 17th through 15th centuries B.C. Earlier excavations had found pottery from this period, but the new discoveries provide firmer evidence of buildings associated with early settlement activity.
Early pottery reveals clues to Hala Sultan Tekke’s history
Pottery from the deepest layers included Red-on-Red, Red-on-Black and White Painted vessels, styles that help researchers date the shift from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age. A somewhat later layer contained other local ceramics and imported spindle-shaped bottles from Anatolia.
No Aegean pottery was found in the early deposits. That differs from later periods, when Mycenaean imports became more common, particularly during the 14th and early 13th centuries B.C., according to the antiquities department.
The finds do not establish an exact founding year. Researchers had already proposed a 17th-century B.C. beginning, and a published report on 2019 excavations described early building layers tentatively dated to the 15th and 14th centuries B.C. The latest work adds evidence from an even earlier phase.
At its height, Hala Sultan Tekke covered up to 50 hectares near present-day Larnaca. Its prosperity depended heavily on copper taken from the Troodos Mountains and processed in workshops before shipment through a sheltered harbor.
Copper exports helped build a major Mediterranean trading city
The port developed extensive trading connections, with objects at the site linked to places as distant as Sardinia, the Baltic, Afghanistan and India.
Earlier excavations also uncovered rich tombs containing gold jewelry, gemstones and imported pottery, signs of the wealth that flowed through the city. The overseas goods do not necessarily indicate direct trade with each distant region, but they show the reach of wider exchange networks.
The settlement was destroyed and abandoned around 1150 B.C. The new discoveries give archaeologists a clearer starting point for examining how it grew into a major commercial center.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
