First wave of cultivators spread to Cyprus at least 10,600 y ago - Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Année : 2012

First wave of cultivators spread to Cyprus at least 10,600 y ago

Georges Willcox
  • Fonction : Auteur

Résumé

Early Neolithic sedentary villagers started cultivating wild cereals in the Near East 11,500 y ago [Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA)]. Recent discoveries indicated that Cyprus was frequented by Late PPNA people, but the earliest evidence until now for both the use of cereals and Neolithic villages on the island dates to 10,400 y ago. Here we present the recent archaeological excavation at Klimonas, which demonstrates that established villagers were living on Cyprus between 11,100 and 10,600 y ago. Villagers had stone artifacts and buildings (including a remarkable 10-m diameter communal building) that were similar to those found on Late PPNA sites on the mainland. Cereals were introduced from the Levant, and meat was obtained by hunting the only ungulate living on the island, a small indigenous Cypriot wild boar. Cats and small domestic dogs were brought from the mainland. This colonization suggests well-developed maritime capabilities by the PPNA period, but also that migration from the mainland may have occurred shortly after the beginning of agriculture.

Dates et versions

hal-01980406 , version 1 (14-01-2019)

Identifiants

Citer

Jean-Denis Vigne, François Briois, Antoine Zazzo, Georges Willcox, Thomas Cucchi, et al.. First wave of cultivators spread to Cyprus at least 10,600 y ago. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2012, 109 (22), pp.8445-8449. ⟨10.1073/pnas.1201693109⟩. ⟨hal-01980406⟩
154 Consultations
0 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More