[en] Ayios Tychonas–Klimonas together with two other sites, Ayios Tychonas–Throumbovounos and Ayia Varvara–Asprokremnos, defines the Cypro–PPNA, dated to the end of the 10th and the beginning of the 9th millennium cal BC. In this paper, we present the first ever conducted use-wear analysis of the knapped lithic industry for this chrono-cultural phase. We studied 1841 specimens using a low and high power approach. The artefacts were either selected from among the defined techno-typological groups (débitage with flakes, bladelets and blades, and retouched pieces such as burins, scrapers, borers, etc.), or from within the assemblages of the communal building and some of the village houses. Stone tools were used for various tasks: hunting; harvesting cereals; butchery; scraping of wood, plants, bones and skins; cutting of wood, plants and rocks; piercing of wood, stones and shells. Tanged pieces are of diverse forms and sizes, with some bearing impact fractures being interpreted as projectile points for hunting. The faunal evidence shows that the villagers of Klimonas hunted wild boar. Butchery is poorly documented in our sample. Heavy butchering (disarticulation or percussion) tools are absent, although blanks used for meat cutting or filleting were identified. Lithic tools were also used to harvest cereals. Sickle elements of variable shapes and sizes were discovered, either unmodified or shaped by retouch. The area of the tool used to haft the artefact were modified by inverse, bifacial retouch or backs, while the cutting edges were sometimes reshaped by a microdenticulation, testifying to the rejuvenation of the tool. The majority of the blanks were stabilized longitudinally into a wooden haft. Small handicrafts (working of animal, plant or mineral materials) are also well represented. Plant working is probably related to the manufacture of small objects, whilst stone and shell boring are mostly related to the production of beads and pendants. The lithic industry is quite abundant at this site, though it is worth mentioning that the utilization rate is low, and even lower for unmodified blanks than retouched ones. Tanged pieces, burins and borers were often used. On the contrary, scrapers, even if found in large quantities, were not utilized. Tools were, in general, quickly rejected and rarely rejuvenated or recycled. The fills of the studied buildings contained waste, cores and technical pieces, unused blanks and shaped tools and, in lesser proportions, used lithic elements. We are presented, therefore, with a mixed context of knapping activities in the living spaces or the immediate proximity, and diverse activities related to subsistence, food preparation and various handicrafts. The samples from the fills of the communal building and the houses are similar, in terms of the activities performed with the tools and the utilization rate. Use-wear analysis has also been conducted on other Neolithic sites in Cyprus, at Shillourokambos (early and middle phases) and Khirokitia. Projectile points were identified at Klimonas and Shillourokambos (examples with impact fractures were noted) but not at Khirokitia, probably related to the evolution of game. These sites share some common characteristics: mixed contexts (knapping and diverse activities) were established in all three sites; harvesting was conducted with sickle elements hafted longitudinally (one brief exception has been underlined in early phases B and C in Shillourokambos); the rest of the activities are similar to those identified at Klimonas. On the mainland, comparisons can be drawn with the contemporary site of Mureybet III, in the middle Euphrates. Obsidian is more present at this site and was used for several activities (it is rare in Klimonas and no use-wear traces were found). In Mureybet III, projectile points, sickle elements with longitudinal wear and small handicrafts were also identified.

[fr] Ayios Tychonas-Klimonas participe, avec Ayios Tychonas-Throumbovounos et Ayia Varvara-Asprokremnos, à la définition du Cypro-PPNA entre la fin du 10e et le début du 9e millénaire avant notre ère. Nous présentons ici la première étude fonctionnelle d'une industrie lithique pour cet horizon chrono-culturel. L'assemblage a fait l'objet d'une étude techno-typologique détaillée au chapitre 14. En complément, notre but est d'identifier la destination fonctionnelle de l'industrie et de réunir des éléments sur la gestion de l'outillage et son statut. Les fonctions sont variées. Notre étude confirme d'abord, que les groupes typologiques des pointes pédonculées et des pièces lustrées sont bien liés à une utilisation comme armatures de projectile et comme éléments de faucille. Nous avons identifié, ensuite, toute une série d'activités de traitement de matières animales (boucherie, travail de la peau, de l'os et de la coquille), de matières végétales (bois, cannes ou roseaux notamment) et de matières minérales. Le taux d'utilisation de l'industrie provenant des trois secteurs fouillés (St 10, Secteurs B et F) est relativement faible, ce qui indique que nous sommes dans un contexte mixte, avec à la fois la tenue d'activités de taille dans les espaces habités ou à immédiate proximité, et d'activités diverses liées à l'économie de subsistance (moisson et chasse, préparation de produits alimentaires) ou à de petits artisanats. Ces résultats sont enfin resitués dans l'évolution des industries néolithiques à Chypre avec les données recueillies à Shillourokambos – phases ancienne et moyenne – et à Khirokitia. Ils sont comparés aux données du site contemporain de Mureybet III, dans la moyenne vallée de l'Euphrate.