COLOURFUL NETWORKS: PIGMENTS AS A COMMODITY BINDING EARLY NEOLITHIC COMMUNITIES TOGETHER
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2020-11-03

Research dealing with the exchange of exotics between islands and their neighbouring mainland areas typically focuses on hard stone materials like obsidian, and significant progress has been made in the sourcing of obsidian leading to the development of models of exchange networks that underpin such connectivity. Though researchers have listed less tangible exchange items, progress in Neolithic exchange has been limited to the diffusion of plant and animal species from mainland areas to islands. Here we present
new data from a recently excavated early Neolithic site on Cyprus, Ayia Varvara Asprokremnos (AVA), that contribute to the discussion of ‘early connectivity’ as evinced through the consumption of less tangible material culture, specifically pigments. Unique evidence of intensive pigment processing from the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) site of Ayia Varvara Asprokremnos (AVA) provides an opportunity to evaluate an island commodity other than land linked to Neolithic expansion in the Eastern Mediterranean. The distinctive geology of Cyprus provides a wealth of natural pigments that would have been valued in the expanding communal activities characterizing the early stages of village settlement. In contradiction to the generally perceived model of Neolithic diffusion due to farming, AVA provides the opportunity to evaluate the development of exchange by seafaring groups focused on commodities and trade as a key aspect of increasing social complexity during the Neolithic. By looking at pigment processing in AVA, we are able to suggest possible directionality of early connectivity between Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean mainland, providing islands an agency contrary to traditional views that regard them as passive recipients of mainland advances.


Author(s): McCartney, Carole - Kassianidou, Vasiliki - Moutsiou, Theodora (University of Cyprus)