A Matter of Choice: Cypriot Interactions with the Levantine Mainland During the Late 4th-3rd Millennium BC

Despite close connections between Cyprus and the mainland Levant during the early Neolithic, the island withdrew from the Levantine interaction sphere sometime before the Khirokitian to follow its own developmental course. It is generally believed that Cyprus remained culturally isolated until the m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inLevant (London) Vol. 45; no. 1; pp. 1 - 18
Main Author Bolger, Diane
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Leeds Routledge 01.04.2013
Maney
Subjects
Asia
Chalcolithic
cultural interaction
Cyprus
Levant
Near East
Neolithic and chalcolithic
Prehistory and protohistory
reception theory
Millenium 4 BC
Chalcolithic
Millenium 3 BC
Mediterranean
Cyprus
Levant
Asia
cultural interaction
reception theory
Cyprus
Figurine
Material culture
Ceramics
Metallurgy
Funerary practice
Levant
Chalcolithic
Cultural contact
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Summary:Despite close connections between Cyprus and the mainland Levant during the early Neolithic, the island withdrew from the Levantine interaction sphere sometime before the Khirokitian to follow its own developmental course. It is generally believed that Cyprus remained culturally isolated until the middle of the 3rd millennium BC when traditional Chalcolithic society was transformed by internal developments on the island, as well as by contact with material culture and migratory communities from mainland Anatolia. Indications of contact between Cyprus and the eastern Mediterranean, including the Levantine mainland during the late 4th and early 3rd millennium, challenge that view. Local and regional variations in the reception of foreign cultural elements present a more complex picture, suggesting that the island's relations with its neighbours were often the result of deliberate choices by Cypriot communities to engage - or refuse to engage - in external world systems.
ISSN:0075-8914
1756-3801
DOI:10.1179/0075891413Z.00000000014