Coastal landscape and maritime context of Neolithic settlement of Paralimni Nissia, Cyprus

Abstract

The Ceramic Neolithic site of Paralimni Nissia is located on a small hillock, right on the coast of Kaminoudhia Bay, Famagusta Bay, Cyprus. Owning to its location and considerable amount of marine-related artifacts, Paralimni Nissia is considered as a neolithic harbour site. However, fluctuation in sea levels through the Holocene has not been taken into consideration, thus it is possible that because the sea level was lower than today when the site was occupied. The following research has been thus aimed to hypothetically reconstruct the coastal landscape in the vicinity of Paralimni Nissia, based on different data sets: geomorphological observations, field underwater survey, sea level studies and bathymetry generated from LiDAR data, as well as the mollusc assemblage excavated at the Neolithic site. Further quantitative and spatial analysis was conducted on the molluscs in order to investigate their archaeological and environmental context.

During the survey, 16 geomorphological markers were identified. Taking into consideration their depths, at least five palaeocoastlines can be proposed in various depths, between – 2 m and -7.60 m. Quantitative analysis revealed that the prevalent quantity of shells was probably collected alive, for consumption purposes, while the minority, and only specific species, were modified into ornaments and tools. Finally, the assemblage contains a considerable quantity of fresh deep-dwelling molluscs, indicating that these shells were probably collected alive offshore. As such, this thesis proposes the coastal character and positions of sea levels during the timespan of the settlement as well as its maritimity based on geography and distribution of shells and other marine-related finds.