History of Cyprus

Human habitation of Cyprus dates back to the Paleolithic era. Cyprus's geographic position has caused Cyprus to be influenced by differing Eastern Mediterranean civilisations over the millennia. Periods of Cyprus's history from 1050 BC have been named according to styles of pottery found as follows: Cypro-Geometric I: 1050-950 BC Cypro-Geometric II: 950-850 BC Cypro-Geometric III: 850-700 BC Cypro-Archaic I: 700-600 BC Cypro-Archaic II: 600-475 BC Cypro-Classical I: 475-400 BC Cypro-Classical II: 400-323 BC Prehistoric Cyprus Cyprus was settled by humans in the Paleolithic period (known as the Stone Age) who coexisted with various dwarf animal species, such as dwarf elephants (Elephas cypriotes) and pygmy hippos (Hippopotamus minor) well into the Holocene. There are claims of an association of this fauna with artifacts of Epipalaeolithic foragers at Aetokremnos near Limassol on the southern coast of Cyprus. The first undisputed settlement occurred in the 9th (or perhaps 10th) millennium BC from the Levant. The first settlers were agriculturalists of the so-called PPNB (pre-pottery Neolithic B) era, but did not yet produce pottery (aceramic Neolithic). The dog, sheep, goats and possibly cattle and pigs were introduced, as well as numerous wild animals such as foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and Persian fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica) that were previously unknown on the island. The PPNB settlers built round houses with floors made of terrazzo of burned lime (e.g. Kastros, Shillourokambos) and cultivated einkorn and emmer. Pigs, sheep, goats and cattle were kept but remained, for the most part, behaviourally wild. Evidence of cattle such as that attested at Shillourokambos is rare, and when they apparently died out in the course of the 8th millennium BC they were not re-introduced until the ceramic Neolithic. In the 6th millennium BC, the aceramic Khirokitia culture was characterised by roundhouses, stone vessels and an economy based on sheep, goats and pigs. Cattle were unknown, and Persian fallow deer were hunted.

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Related concepts (3)

History of Cyprus

History of Greece

The history of Greece encompasses the history of the territory of the modern nation-state of Greece as well as that of the Greek people and the areas they inhabited and ruled historically. The scope of Greek habitation and rule has varied throughout the ages and as a result, the history of Greece is similarly elastic in what it includes. Generally, the history of Greece is divided into the following periods: Paleolithic Greece, starting 3.3 million years ago and ending in 20000 BC.

Cyprus

Cyprus (ˈsaɪprəs ), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country located in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. It is geographically in West Asia, but culturally and geopolitically Southeast European. Cyprus is the third-largest and third-most populous island in the Mediterranean. It is located north of Egypt, east of Greece, south of Turkey, and west of Lebanon and Syria. Its capital and largest city is Nicosia. The northeast portion of the island is governed by the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a de facto state recognised only by Turkey.