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The Necropolis of Kissonerga- Ammoudhia: Techniques of Ceramic Production in Early-Middle Bronze Age Western Cyprus Lisa Graham Doctor of Philosophy The University of Edinburgh, 2013 Declaration This is to certify that that the work contained within has been composed by me and is entirely my own work. No part of this thesis has been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification. Signed: Word Count: 85, 541 i ABSTRACT The Early-Middle Bronze Age in Cyprus (c. 2300-1650 BCE) is still poorly understood, in spite of Cyprus’s strategic importance in the Mediterranean and the revolutionary cultural transformations that occurred at the end of this period. The west coast in particular, has remained a relatively blank spot on the map of the Eastern Mediterranean, where excavations have been entirely lacking until very recently. In the absence of excavated sites, a great deal of information regarding western Cypriot society from this period must be derived from pottery. This thesis aims to understand the nature of the ceramic material culture in the west through an analysis of the ceramics from the cemetery of Kissonerga-Ammoudhia, at present the largest corpus of western Cypriot funerary pottery from this period. The entire excavated assemblage is presented and a multidisciplinary approach to the ceramics is applied. A traditional typological study was conducted on the entire assemblage, and a microscopic petrographic analysis applied to a sample in order to identify the manufacturing techniques used by the potters. This corpus of information can be used to test the nature and validity of evidence for regional identity. Although there appears to be a broadly similar culture with the rest of the island, the ceramics from Ammoudhia nevertheless show significant differences to those from contemporary sites. This site contains a very large amount of Drab Polished ware; little known elsewhere, this poorly understood, but potentially vital type of pottery appears to be a western local tradition. Although originally dated to the late Middle Bronze Age, this thesis provides evidence for a considerably earlier date in western Cyprus. It also argues for this being a very long lived ware with particularly sophisticated manufacturing techniques, and is one of the technological precursors to Base Ring ware, the ubiquitous pottery vessels of the Late Bronze Age. This thesis places western Cyprus into an island-wide context, allowing for meaningful comparisons with contemporaneous sites and lays the foundations for a clearer understanding of the chronological and technological sequence, fitting into our understanding of the precursors to secondary state formation, in particular: funerary and ritual practices, trade and exchange and technological advances. This corpus from the Kissonerga Ammoudhia cemetery represents the first ever study of a large body of information from the Early-Middle Bronze Age of Western Cyprus. As such it can provide both the framework for further analyses, as well as the first glimpses of the unique culture of this area, and an understanding of how this region fits into the wider Bronze Age Mediterranean world. ii Contents List of Text Figures xii List of Digital Figures xxi List of Tables xxii Acknowledgements xxiii Glossary xxvi Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Aims and Objectives 3 Analysis and interpretation 5 Chapter Summary 8 Chapter 2: A Background to the Cypriot 12 Bronze Age: Areas of Debate Establishing a Chronology 12 The Philia Debate 21 The Early and Middle Bronze Age (EC-MC) 24 The MC-LC Transition 26 Into The Late Bronze Age 27 Debating the EC-MC 29 Recognising Regionalism 29 Settlement 33 Economy 35 Death and Burial 42 iii EC-MC Ceramics 50 Classification Issues 51 Stylistic Analyses 54 Ceramic Technology 57 Petrographic Analyses 59 The Geological Background of Cyprus 67 Drab Polished ware: A case study 73 Chapter 3: Methods and Materials 76 Introduction to Kissonerga-Ammoudhia 76 Previous Research of Kissonerga-Ammoudhia 79 Ceramic Methodologies 81 Conservation 81 Recording 81 Creating a Typology 87 Creating a Relative Chronology 90 Chronological Markers 91 RPSC 91 RPI 91 Disc lugs 91 Conical bowls 92 Ring base vessels 92 Wishbone handles 93 Elongated tablet lugs with 93 vertical handles Comparisons 94 iv Petrographic Analysis 95 Experimental Clay Sampling 96 Non-Ceramic Evidence 97 Excavation Recordings 97 Non-Ceramic Grave Goods 98 Human Remains and Absolute Dating 99 Chapter 4: The Kissonerga-Ammoudhia Data 100 Kissonerga-Ammoudhia Ceramics: Wares 101 Identified Fabrics 101 Drab Polished ware 104 DP (1) 105 DP (2) 106 DP (3) 108 DP (Intact) 109 Red Polished ware 110 RP (4) 111 RP (5) 112 RP (6) 113 RP (7) 114 RPSC (10) 115 RP Black Topped 118 RPIII Imported 119 RPIV 120 RPX 120 RP (Intact) 121 Cooking Wares 121 v CW (8) 121 Cooking Pots 122 Cooking pot (6) 123 Cooking pot (9) 124 Unidentifiable Wares 125 Vessel Shapes 125 Jugs and Juglets 128 Large jugs 129 Medium jugs 133 Jugs with cutaway spouts 134 Jugs with round spouts 136 Juglets 137 Juglets with cutaway spouts 139 Juglets with round spouts 139 Juglets with mid-neck handles 141 Flasks 142 Bowls 144 Small bowls 145 Bowls with elongated lugs 146 Bowls with horizontal lug handles 146 Bowls with horn lugs 147 Bowls with vertical loop handles 148 Bowls with horizontal loop handles 149 Bowls with ring bases 150 Bowls with wishbone handles 152 Bowls with elongated tablet lugs 152 Zoomorphic bowls 154 vi Unclassified small bowls 155 Conical bowls 156 Deep conical bowls 157 Large bowls 158 Cups 158 Amphorae 159 Pithoi/Storage Jars 160 Jars 162 Tubular spouted jars 163 Large jars 165 Cooking Pans 167 Cooking Pots 168 One-handled cooking pots 170 Tripod cooking pots 170 Composite Vessels 171 Decoration 172 Relief Decoration 174 Incised and Impressed Decoration 175 Spindle Whorls 176 Non-Ceramic Grave Goods 181 Tomb Chronology 189 Absolute Chronology 189 Tomb Descriptions and Relative Tomb Chronology 191 Tomb 1 (ECI-II) 192 Tomb 2 (ECIII-MCIII) 196 Tomb 3 (ECI-MCI) 199 vii Tomb 4 (ECI-ECIII) 202 Tomb 5 (ECIII-MCII?) 205 Tomb 6 (ECI-MCI) 207 Tomb 7 (EC-MC) 215 Tomb 8 (ECIII-MCI) 217 Tomb 9 (ECIIII-II) 220 Tomb 10 (ECI-MCII) 224 Tomb 11 (EC-MC) 227 Tomb 12 (EC-MCI) 227 Tomb 13 (ECIII-MCIII) 230 Tomb 14 (EC-MC) 234 Tomb 15 (ECIII-MCIII) 234 Tomb 16 (ECIII-MCIII) 238 Tomb 17 (EC-MC) 242 Tomb 18 (ECI-MCI) 245 Tomb 19 (ECIII-MCIII) 248 Tomb 20 (ECIII-MC) 253 Tomb 21 (EC-MC) 256 Tomb 38 (EC-MC) 257 Tomb 39 (ECIII-MCII) 257 Tombs 40A and B 261 Tomb 40A (ECIII-MCII) 262 Tomb 40B (ECIII-MCII) 266 Tomb 41 (ECI-MCI) 267 Tomb 42 (ECI-MCI) 270 Tomb 43 (ECI-III) 275 Tomb Overview 279 viii The Kissonerga-Ammoudhia Petrological Data 285 Fabric I 287 Fabric II 288 Fabric III 290 Fabric IV 291 Fabric V 292 Fabric VI 293 Fabric VII 294 Fabric VIII 295 Fabric IX 296 Clay Sampling Experiment 298 Chapter 5: Discussion 302 Contextualising Kissonerga-Ammoudhia Establishing a Chronology 302 Towards an Absolute Chronology 302 A Relative Chronology 305 The Kissonerga-Ammoudhia Material Culture 310 The Ceramic Character 310 Typological Evidence 311 Wares 312 Forms 314 Inter-site Comparisons 316 Petrographic Evidence 320 Clay types and sources 320 Preparation 322 Firing 326 ix Surface treatment 328 Comparing the Typological and 329 Petrographic Classifications Inter-site Petrographic Comparisons 331 Spindle Whorls 334 Non-Ceramic Grave Goods 337 Chapter 6: Discussion: Beyond Ammoudhia 339 Kissonerga-Ammoudhia in a Mortuary Context 339 Tomb Architecture 339 Evidence for Mortuary Ritual at 344 Kissonerga-Ammoudhia Ritualistic behaviour 344 Tomb ceramics 347 Inter-site Comparisons 350 Social/Cultural Evidence 353 Identifying the Individual 353 The Ammoudhia Social Trajectory 357 Chapter 7: Conclusions 363 Contextualising Kissonerga-Ammoudhia 364 Interpreting Kissonerga-Ammoudhia 367 Recommendations for Future Research 370 Further Research and Refinement of 370 Kissonerga Ceramics Investigation of the Chrysochou Bay Region 372 Continuation of Scientific Analyses 372 x Understanding Kissonerga in the Late 373 3rd Millennium BCE Final Remarks 374 Bibliography 375 Appendix: Digital File Appendix 1: Catalogue Appendix 2: Excavated Sites and Surveys Appendix 3: EC-MC Ceramic Wares Appendix 4: Pottery Recording Kissonerga-Ammoudhia Fabrics Pottery Recording Criteria Used in this Thesis Appendix 5: Petrographic Analysis Catalogue of Sherds Used in Petrographic Analysis Detailed Fabric Classification Microscopic Description of Clay Samples Appendix 6: Radiocarbon Date Report Appendix 7: Tombs 20 and 21 Excavation Images Appendix 8: Illustrations Appendix 9: Photographic Plates Appendix 10: Excel Spreadsheet xi Text Figures 2.1 Map of Cyprus showing