The Inhabitants of Ancient Kition: Preliminary Insights A
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THE INHABITANTS OF ANCIENT KITION: PRELIMINARY INSIGHTS A. Karligkioti¹, P. Christofi², K. Helgeson³, S. Mavroudas³, F. Constantinou4, K. Cruz³, E. Nikita¹, N. Herrmann³ ¹ Science and Technology in Archaeology and Culture Research Center (STARC), The Cyprus Institute ² Department of Antiquities, Cyprus ³ Department of Anthropology, Texas State University 4 Department of Archaeological Sciences, Leiden University Site and Introduction Results and Discussion The ancient city-kingdom of Kition extends underneath the modern city of Larnaca and its The osteological analysis to date has identified 14 individuals in Τ1 and 20 in T2. The surroundings, in the southeast part of Cyprus (Figure 1). The site has been thoroughly skeletal remains from T1 were preserved in a poorer state than those from T2. In studied up to its decline in the 4th century AD. Both Karageorghis (1985, 2005) and the specific, the mean API value for T1 was 3.899 while for T2 it was 4.008, and the mean French Mission under the direction of Yon (1994, 2000, 2006) and Fourrier (2015) have QBI value for T1 was 4.177 while for T2 it was 4.391. The difference between these provided us with a clear picture of a thriving city-kingdom up until the Late Roman period. values was statistically significant (p = 0.015 for API, p = 0.0001 for QBI). The poorer Human habitation here dates back to the Middle Bronze Age as a minor settlement, while preservation of T1 can be attributed to the fact that this tomb was found looted and after the silting of Hala Sultan Tekke’s port, it reaches its peak as a major urban centre at flooded. the end of the 13th c. By the 9th c. BC the site prospered into a multicultural settlement The demographic profile of the sample per tomb can be seen in Figure 3, and per with a strong Phoenician connection. Among the factors that contributed to the emergence context (inside or outside sarcophagi) in Figure 4. Figure 3 shows that Tomb 1 contained of ancient Kition into a key Cypriot site was its strategic position, which rendered it an ideal more individuals of indeterminate age, classified in the generic ‘adult’ category, than naval base, as well as its harbour, which facilitated the export of primarily copper and Tomb 2. This finding is associated to the poorer preservation of the remains in Tomb 1. In timber to Egypt, Greece and the rest of the eastern Mediterranean (Karageorghis 1973; addition, Tomb 1 contained more young adults compared to middle adults whereas this Yon and Childs 1997). pattern is inversed in Tomb 2. Given the small sample sizes and the high number of individuals that could not be aged, this pattern should not be interpreted as indicating a shorter life span for those interred in Tomb 1. On the other hand, it is very interesting that the demographic profile of those interred inside sarcophagi is very similar to that of the individuals found outside these (Figure 4), suggesting no association between mortuary treatment and demographic characteristics, as least from the very small part of the cemetery examined. Figure 1. Map of Cyprus with location of ancient Kition Ongoing excavations by the Department of Antiquities as part of mitigation efforts related to the waste water and sewer modification project have brought to light new sections of ancient Kition and its cemetery. The analysis of the skeletal remains from these excavations can provide unique insights to the diachronic occupation of this key location. The skeletal analysis of this assemblage was initiated in the summer of 2019 as a collaborative effort between the Department of Antiquities, Texas State University, and the Cyprus Institute. Materials and Methods Figure 3. Demographic distribution of Figure 4. Demographic distribution of the sample per tomb the sample per context The first data collection season (July-August 2019) focused on the remains from two tombs: Agiou Georgiou Kontou street Τ1 ΣΜ1-Υ259 (hereafter T1), dating from Classical The pathological conditions identified in the sample are typical for bioarchaeological to Hellenistic times, and Anagenniseos street T2-D900-D221.3 (hereafter T2), dating from assemblages and include degenerative joint disease, Schmorl’s nodes, periostitis, dental Hellenistic to Roman times. Most burials represented primary inhumations (with some diseases and trauma. Degenerative joint disease was the more frequent condition in the post-depositional disturbance) but scattered skeletal elements were also found (Figure 2). sample and affected mostly individuals in T2 (Figure 5). The overall caries rate is low for This presentation will focus on the primary inhumations as these represent the majority of both tombs (3.2% of available teeth) with a moderate tooth loss (12.8% of sockets). the assemblage. Figure 2. Plan of T1 (left) and T2 (right) Figure 5. DJD frequency per zone in T1 (left) and T2 (right) Stature could be estimated for seven individuals from T2 and ranged from 162.1 to The state of preservation of the remains was assessed using the Zonation method (Knüsel 164.2cm for males and from 155.2 to 169.2cm for females. The entheseal changes and Outram 2004) to record which parts of each skeletal element are present, the recorded on the current sample are too few to be discussed at this stage. Anatomical Preservation Index (API) (Bello and Andrews 2006) to determine what percentage of each element is preserved, and the Qualitative Bone Index (QBI) (Bello and Andrews 2006) to mark the percentage of well preserved cortical bone. Standard Concluding remark morphological and metric skeletal markers of the pelvis, cranium and long bones were The excavations in ancient Kition have revealed dozens of tombs and are expected to used for the estimation of age and sex (Nikita 2017 and references therein). In addition, bring to light many more in the following months. While our study is still at a very early pathological lesions were recorded according to Buikstra and Ubelaker (1994), entheseal changes were scored in fibrocartilagenous entheses of the upper limbs adopting the stage, the demographic characteristics, pathological lesions, and metric traits identified Vilotte et al. (2010) method, while stature was estimated based on long bone lengths on the individuals of this site highlight the need for more extensive research in this using the equations by Ruff et al. (2012) and Celbis and Agritmis (2006). direction. References: Bello S, Andrews P. 2006. In: Gowland R, Knüsel C (eds.) Social Archaeology of Funerary Remains. Oxbow, pp. 1-13. Nikita E. 2017. Osteoarchaeology: A Guide to the Macroscopic Study of Human Skeletal Remains. Academic Press. Buikstra JE, Ubelaker DH. 1994. Standards for Data Collection from Human Remains. Arkansas Archaeological Survey Report Number 44. Ruff CB, Holt BM, Niskanen M, Sladék V, et al. 2012. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 148: 601-617. Celbis O, Agritmis H. 2006. Forensic Science International 158: 135-139. Villotte S, Castex D, Couallier V, Dutour O, et al. 2010. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 142: 224-234. Fourrier S. 2015. The Iron Age city of Kition: the state of research 85 years after the Swedish Cyprus Expedition's excavations. Yon M. 1994. Bulletin de Correspondance Hellenique 118: 672-677. Karageorghis V. 1973. Kition: Mycenaean and Phoenician. Oxford University Press. Yon M, Childs WA. 1997. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 308: 9-17. Karageorghis V, Demas M. 1985. 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