Choirokoitia
Χοιροκοιτία
Cyprus · Larnaca
In brief
Choirokoitia is a Neolithic settlement established on a hill within a bend of the Maroni River. Excavations document early village life through its circular houses and enclosing walls that required collective labour.
What was found?
- 1Remains of circular dwellings
These are the remains of flat-roofed buildings made of stone and mudbrick. Several circular buildings formed a single household around a small courtyard.
- 2Settlement walls and entrance system
These are the successive walls surrounding the village and its entrance arrangement. According to researchers, their planned construction and maintenance required organized communal work.
- 3Burials beneath house floors
These are graves found in pits beneath the compacted earth floors of the living units. They document the place of the dead within the settlement and burial practices.
- 4Stone vessels and tools
These are stone vessels and tools made of flint and bone. They show which implements a community without pottery used for its daily tasks.
- 5Human-shaped figurines
These are human representations made of stone, together with one clay example. According to UNESCO's assessment, alongside burial practices, they indicate the existence of developed beliefs.
What does it point to?
The densely clustered houses and communal walls of Hirokitya show permanent village life together with organized labor. According to researchers, burials within houses and figurines point to a close relationship between daily life and religious practices.
What did it teach us?
- It showed that a household could consist of several buildings around a courtyard rather than a single round building.
- It provided evidence of social organization for planning and maintaining large communal structures.
- It documented that the dead were buried beneath dwelling floors.
Images
Record
- Culture
- Cypriot Neolithic; Choirokoitia culture
- First modern dig
- 1936
- Team / historical
- French Archaeological Mission / CNRS; Alain Le Brun and Odile Daune-Le Brun
- Coordinates
- 34.7967°, 33.3437°
Sources
Nearby excavations
- Amathus 21 km
- Hala Sultan Tekke Bronze Age City 26 km
- Kourion 44 km
- Salamis, Cyprus 66 km
- Nea Paphos 86 km
- Byblos 224 km
- —
- —
- 12.000
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