Steve Falconer CAARI Lecture

Bronze Age life and landscape at Politiko-Troullia, Cyprus.
Our investigations of Politiko-Troullia, located in the heart of Cyprus, allow us to portray the interactions of this ancient community with its surrounding landscape during the Prehistoric Bronze Age. Modeled radiocarbon dates estimate Politiko-Troullia’s habitation primarily between about 2050 and 1850 cal BCE amid the pre-urban prelude to the island’s first cities. We use excavated plant and animal remains, along with their stable isotope analysis to infer detailed agrarian management. Carbonized seeds and charcoal, along with terracing of adjacent hillsides, suggest intensive arboriculture and localized land management. Bone assemblages document animal exploitation based on sheep, goat, and cattle husbandry coupled with hunting of feral pigs and wild Mesopotamian fallow deer in the forests of the neighboring Troodos foothills. Highlights of our excavations include distinctive signatures of localized copper metallurgy, spinning and weaving, along with communal deer feasting. Our analysis of life at Politiko-Troullia forms one component of our larger ongoing study of agrarian responses across the Eastern Mediterranean to environmental stresses hypothesized between about 2200 and 2000 BCE (e.g., during the 4.2 k Event). In this larger context, Politiko-Troullia on the forest verge of Cyprus stands in stark contrast to contemporaneous communities on the anthropogenic landscapes of the Levant.

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Really love these lecture series, hope to see many more CAARI lectures in the future.