Age by Age: Ancient Cyprus

Neolithic and Chalcolithic Periods: 7500–2500 B.C.

Over 9,000 years ago, Neolithic settlers who did not yet know how to produce metals or pottery arrived on Cyprus from the Near East, probably from the north Syrian coast. By the sixth millennium B.C., villagers in scattered settlements along Cyprus’s northern and southern shores survived by fishing, hunting and farming, and some lived in curvilinear homes made of river stones and mudbrick, like those at Kalavasos-Tenta (see photo of curvilinear homes in the main article). Metal objects, pottery and cruciform-shaped stone figurines, such as the 3-inch-tall figure above, began to be produced on Cyprus during the fourth millennium B.C. These figurines have been recovered from graves and ruined buildings in the southwestern part of the island.

Bronze Age: 2500–1100 B.C.