Sotira Kaminoudhia: An Early Bronze Age Site in Cyprus.

• Author: Webb, Jennifer M.
• Position: Book Review

Sotira Kaminoudhia: An Early Bronze Age Site in Cyprus. By STUART SWINY, GEORGE (RIP) RAPP, and ELLEN HERSCHER. CAARI Monograph Series, vol. 4. Boston: AMERICAN SCHOOLS OF ORIENTAL RESEARCH, 2003. Pp. xxviii + 556, plates. $99.95.

Few occupation sites of the Early Bronze Age have been excavated in Cyprus. The publication of the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute's project of excavation and regional survey at Sotira Kaminoudhia is thus especially welcome. Kaminoudhia is currently the only excavated settlement of this period in southern Cyprus and will play a key role in refining and expanding our understanding of material culture sequences in this part of the island.

Surface survey at Kaminoudhia suggests a settlement of approximately one hectare. Excavation was undertaken in three areas, the largest representing an exposure of 375[m.sup.2]. Of particular interest is the fact that Kaminoudhia appears to have been founded at the very beginning of the Early Bronze Age (EBA), during the so-called Philia phase, and occupied through the subsequent Early Cypriot I and II (EC I and II) periods into Early Cypriot III (EC III). Although Philia and EC I and II deposits are not represented in the settlement exposures, which are dated exclusively to EC III, three of the associated tombs produced diagnostic Philia assemblages and at least six are of EC I or II date. These earlier occupation phases must therefore be present in the settlement beyond the excavated areas. As a Philia foundation with an unbroken history of occupation through the EC period, Kaminoudhia may be compared with a number of other sites for which similarly lengthy sequences are now indicated, challenging a long-held assumption that short-term shifting settlement was the norm in EBA Cyprus.

The multidisciplinary approach taken by the excavators is reflected in the publication. An introduction by Rapp and Swiny is followed by seventeen chapters written by the excavators and twelve specialists covering the excavation of the settlement and cemeteries, ceramics (typology and petrology), ground and knapped stone, metal and archaeometallurgy, terracottas, skeletal, faunal and botanical remains, geology and geomorphology, regional and environmental survey, and chronology. The most substantive, and the most critical for the overall interpretation of the site, are those which report the excavation of the settlement (Swiny) and cemetery (Swiny and Herscher) and the ceramics...