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<< Text Pages >> Pyrgos-Mavrorachi - Ancient Village or Settlement in Cyprus

Submitted by Klingon on Wednesday, 08 April 2009  Page Views: 7681

Multi-periodSite Name: Pyrgos-Mavrorachi Alternative Name: Πύργος - Μαυροράχη
Country: Cyprus
NOTE: This site is 9.18 km away from the location you searched for.

Type: Ancient Village or Settlement

Latitude: 34.725000N  Longitude: 33.182000E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
no data Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
no data Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
no data Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
3
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Ancient Village or Settlement in Cyprus

Link to the the Pyrgos excavation project page.

Note: 4,000-year-old temple discovered in Cyprus, see latest comment
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Nearby Images from Flickr
Le Meridien Hotel, Limassol, Cyprus
Le Meridien Hotel, Limassol, Cyprus
Le Meridien Hotel, Limassol, Cyprus
Le Meridien Hotel, Limassol, Cyprus
Le Meridien Hotel, Limassol, Cyprus
Le Meridien Hotel, Limassol, Cyprus

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"Pyrgos-Mavrorachi" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
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4,000-year-old temple discovered in Cyprus by Andy B on Wednesday, 08 April 2009
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An Italian archaeologist has claimed to have discovered Cyprus' oldest religious site, which she said echoes descriptions in the Bible of temples in ancient Palestine. Maria Rosaria Belgiorno said the 4,000-year-old triangular temple predates any other found on the east Mediterranean island by a millennium.

"For sure it's the most ancient religious site on the island," she told The Associated Press from her home in Rome. "This confirms that religious worship in Cyprus began much earlier than previously believed."

But authorities on the island say they cannot confirm her claim before further study.

"That the site is dated to around 2,000 B.C. is certain, but the interpretation that it's a temple or a sacred site has yet to be confirmed," Cyprus Antiquities Department official Maria Hadjicosti told state radio.

The 200-sq.-meter (2,150-sq.-foot) building was discovered last year outside Pyrgos, a village near the south coast, where previous digs unearthed a settlement dating to 2,000 B.C. that included a perfumery, winery and a metal workshop.

Belgiorno, who heads an Italian archaeological mission in Cyprus, initially disclosed the find to English-language The Cyprus Weekly.

She said evidence points to a monotheistic temple with a sacrificial altar that resembles Canaanite places of worship described in the Bible.

"The temple has a very peculiar shape for a building, which is very rare."

Belgiorno said a key piece of evidence linking the site to Biblical accounts of temples in ancient Palestine is a pair of 6-meter (20-foot) stone "channels" extending from either side of the altar that allowed sacrificial animals' blood to flow out of the structure.

Other evidence includes a stone water basin, which she said might have been used in the ritual cleansing of the channels.

Belgiorno said the temple was situated across from the industrial area in the heart of the settlement, which she estimates covered 35 hectares (86 acres). Most of the settlement now lies under village homes and holiday villas.

The industrial area was built around a large mill producing olive oil that was used as fuel to fire up the metal workshop and as a perfume base.

Although it is difficult to say with certainty, she said the settlement was home to around 500 people. Their origins are unclear, but they had trade links with ancient Egypt and Palestine, she said.

A major earthquake destroyed the settlement in 1,850 B.C.

The earliest settlements excavated so far on the island date back to around 9000 B.C. Cyprus then saw successive waves of colonization, including Phoenicians, Mycenaean Greeks, Romans and — in the Middle Ages — Franks and Venetians. It was conquered by Ottoman Turks in 1571, and became part of the British Empire in 1878 before winning independence in 1960.

Violence between Cyprus' majority Greek community and the Turkish community broke out shortly after, and the island has been divided along ethnic lines since a Turkish invasion in 1974 — prompted by a failed coup aimed at union with Greece.

Source: MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29916796/
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Ancient toy or whistle found at Pyrgos by coldrum on Tuesday, 20 May 2008
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Ancient toy or whistle found at Pyrgos

Italian team continues string of discoveries

By Demetra Molyva

EXCLUSIVE

A SMALL masterpiece of coroplastic Early Bronze Age Cyprus (3500- 2000 BC), believed to be a water whistle or a toy, was found during the excavations at Pyrgos/Mavrorachi, in Limassol and restored by an Italian archaeological mission led by Maria Rosaria Belgiorno.

"This is an askos, representing a load of two panniers, with its mane knotted in five bobs and a statuette of a naked child riding in the middle of the shoulder," Belgiorno said.

Donkeys loaded with baskets of fruit and vegetables are one of the most common images of the Mediterranean, she explained.

"This is a familiar subject especially on the islands, from the first appearance and domestication of small horses and donkeys. Both have played a very important role in the evolution of agriculture and culture in prehistory," she said, noting that what is more rare is the child riding on the back of the donkey.

Extraordinary

The iconography of a quadruped with panniers on the back is known in Early-Middle Bronze Age Cyprus but it is rare to find one bearing a child.

One example is a figurine on the famous scenic vase of making wine, from a tomb (No.47) of Pyrgos, although the askos from Pyrgos/Mavrorachi cannot be compared in terms of style, precision and quality.

"What is extraordinary is that this vase was found in a settlement and not a tomb," Belgiorno said.

She explained that the askos has two openings, one in front corresponding to the mouth of the equine and a small cylindrical spout on the back, next to the handle.

"Considering the small size of these openings, it is possible that the askos was a water whistle of a toy and not a special container for some substance," Belgiorno told The Cyprus Weekly.

According to Belgiorno, the high level of the industrial community of Pyrgos/Mavrorachi is well documented by the advanced industrial technologies found in the settlement.

Funerary

"And the quality of the pottery found at Pyrgos has no comparison with ceramics from other Early-Middle Bronze age settlements, like Marki and Alambra," she explained.

The most famous coroplastic vases and models of the Early-Middle Bronze Age from tombs in Cyprus lead to the conclusion that these special pots were made only for funerary purposes, she added.

"But Pyrgos findings are proof that beautiful objects were part of everyday life in Early Bronze Age Cyprus. Many vessels found in fragments beneath the ruins of the building destroyed by the earthquake of 1850 BC, have no comparison with the precious ceramics from the contemporary tombs of the site," she said.

Last year, the Italian archaeological mission of Pyrgos/Mavrorachi, directed by Belgiorno, carried out its ninth season of excavations at the Early Bronze Age industrial site of Pyrgos/Mavrorachi, under the auspices of the Antiquities Department and the Italian Foreign Minister.

The work of the mission focused on the western wing of a building destroyed by an earthquake around 1850 BC, in order to locate the origin of a large room positioned on the western side of an olive press.

Pebbles

A pebble stone entrance to the room from the south has been unearthed.

And in addition to the western side of the room, the excavations uncovered an extension of the industrial complex, which like most of the rooms of the palace, was intended for metallurgical activities.

"The evidence found in this area, which has produced a large quantity of Early Bronze Age pottery, stone tools and copper slag, suggests a probable industrial copper complex at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age, full of its contents," Belgiorno said.

Nearby, she added, there was a heavy pestle of andesite, ready for crushing of minerals was found along with a large number of crucibles a

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