Press Releases

The Department of Antiquities, of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works, announces that in July 2022 the “Kalavasos-Laroumena and Arkhangelos Archaeological Research Project” (K-LAARP) conducted surface survey at the above localities at Kalavasos under the direction of Dr. Mara Horowitz. The K-LAARP surveyed the high terraces northwest of Kalavasos village and documented significant archaeological remains of the Middle Cypriot Bronze Age (c. 2000-1650 BC), in particular of the poorly known transitional phase between the Middle and Late Cypriot (c. 1650-1050 BC) periods. Located 0.25 km northwest of Kalavasos, these localities were previously identified by the Vasilikos Valley Project as having abundant Middle Cypriot artifacts and, on a few plots, Late Cypriot. Limited excavations in 1993 by Dr I. Todd also revealed Middle Cypriot architecture on Laroumena including substantial walls of 1 metre thickness, highly unusual for that time period.

The K-LAARP project’s 2022 season relocated previous excavations and identified new standing architecture and features visible on the surface and in eroded hillsides on both localities while also assessing for future excavation. The presence of very early Late Cypriot ceramics such as ‘Proto-White Slip Ware’ confirmed the dating of a newly discovered structure on Arkhangelos to the crucial transitional period. Abundant fragments of extremely large ‘pithos’ jars in Middle Cypriot ‘Red Polished Ware’ were observed on both localities, confirming previous survey work that identified Arkhangelos and Laroumena as having far more large jars than any other Middle Cypriot site in the Vasilikos Valley and thus, far more storage. The goal of the K-LAARP project is to study the changes in social systems on Cyprus in the transition from Middle to Late Cypriot Bronze Age through the evidence for public architecture and centralized storage. The Laroumena and Arkhangelos localities should be ancestral to the wealthy Late Cypriot town at Kalavasos-Ayios Dhimitrios.

Figures

Fig. 1: Newly discovered wall cleared of grass, Laroumena.

Fig. 2: Stone feature in upper roadway, Laroumena.

Fig. 3: Proto-White Slip sherd in section, Arkhangelos.

Fig. 4: Middle Cypriot III – Late Cypriot IA structure in section, Arkhangelos.

(NG/ECHR)