Archaeologists discovered a 4000-year-old temple on the island of Cyprus. The finding was made by the Italian Erimi Archaeological Mission, led by Professor Luca Bombardieri from the University of Siena, in collaboration with the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus.
The temple, which features an enigmatic central monolith decorated with a circular motif of small cups, offers a window into the past of an artisan community on the island. This sacred site is the oldest recorded in Cyprus, and its discovery has been widely reported in national media due to its scientific relevance.
Professor Bombardieri, director of the Italian Erimi Archaeological Project, has shared the fascinating results of years of research carried out by his team. On the occasion of the fifteenth anniversary of the first systematic investigations in the Bronze Age area of Erimi in Cyprus, Bombardieri comments, the positive balance of the research activity carried out is reflected in the new results of a series of particularly fruitful excavation seasons. The recent fieldwork has led to the discovery of the oldest recorded sacred building in Cyprus, whose ritual function and ideological value seem to have particular significance.
This Italian research program has involved the collaboration of numerous institutions, including the Cyprus Institute and the INFN-Labec, as well as the support of the Mediterranean Archaeological Fund and the Aegean Prehistory Institute. Additionally, it has received constant support from the Farnesina and the Italian Embassy in Nicosia.
The main objective of this research project is to provide new data for the study of production and cultural relations during the transition to urban society in this crucial insular context, situated between the Near East and the Mediterranean.
The primitive settlement of Erimi, Bombardieri explains, is located inland from Limassol, extending over a high limestone terrace overlooking the course of the Kouris River and a large portion of the coast of the Kourion Gulf and the Akrotiri Peninsula. During the Middle Bronze Age (approximately 2000-1600 BC), a community of artisans decided to settle on the Erimi hill, building a community space with unique characteristics.
In the western wing of the artisan complex, a room was found with a monolith of considerable dimensions, approximately 2.30 meters high, completely polished and decorated with a circular motif of small cups. Bombardieri describes: The monolith, which originally stood in the center of the room, collapsed onto the floor, destroying a large amphora placed at its feet, in front of a small circular hearth. The internal space of this room allowed circulation around the monolith, the amphora, and the hearth, which occupied the central part. The peculiarities of this space, especially in comparison with the surrounding spaces of the production workshop, indicate that it is a small sacred space, the oldest recorded on this island, with an interesting cult function due to its location within the workshop complex. Thus, the activity that economically sustained the community also involved its members ideologically and symbolically.
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