Oldest Farming Village in Cyprus

The oldest village of farmers of all Mediterranean islands is in Cyprus and was discovered by a team of French archaeologist, involving CNRS, the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (National Museum of Natural History), INRAP, EHESS and the University of Toulouse II-Le Mirail.

The communal building in Klimonas partially excavated. It measures 10 m in diameter. © J.-D. Vigne, CNRS-MNHN. This image is available from the CNRS photo library, phototheque@cnrs-bellevue.fr

The sea does not seem to have hindered the expansion of agriculture in the Neolithic as evidenced by the discovery of Klimonas. This small village, dating from 9000 BC, contains traces showing the cultivation of grain at that time. So far, archaeologists believed that the first farming communities on the island had emerged at least five centuries later.

Small shell pendant left as an offering in the large communal building of Klimonas.© J.-D. Vigne, CNRS-MNHN. This image is available from the CNRS photo library, phototheque@cnrs-bellevue.fr

At Klimonas, they excavated the remains of a communal building with raw earth of 10 meters in diameter, semi-buried. Inside, scientists have discovered a few votive offerings like arrows made of flint or green stone beads. They also found the remains of carbonised seeds of local plants and cereal implemented since the Levantine coasts (such as “emmer“, one of the first wheat introduced from the Near East). In an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, researchers believe that the building was probably used as common granary.

As the bones were found at the site lets you know that the meat consumed by these populations came from the hunting of small wild boar indigenous to Cyprus (only this big game on the island at that time) and that cats and small domestic dogs were brought from the mainland. These findings show that these early agricultural societies have migrated from the mainland shortly after the beginnings of agriculture and the travel distance in the early Neolithic demonstrate their mastery of navigation.

Tagged Emmer, farming, Klimonas, oldest, plantation, village