Khirokitia - A Neolithic Site

Nicosia: Politistiko Hidryma Trapezes Kyprou, 1996. Brand new. In english. Soft cover, 21 cm, 54 pp., ill. Photographs by P. Dikaios, the French Archaeological Mission et al. Plans by O. Daune-Le Brun. The Neolithic settlement of Khirokitia, one of the most important in the eastern Mediterranean, was discovered in 1934 by Porphyrios Dikaios, who conducted a research in the area from 1936 to 1946. The excavations were resumed in 1977 by the French archaeological expedition under A. Le Brun. The first part of the guide includes the history of the research conducted on the site, a detailed description of the houses (their architecture, the materials and building techniques used, their interior arrangement and the position of tools and utensils), the funeral rites and the economy of the inhabitants. In the second part, A. Le Brun suggests an exemplar guided tour to the archaeological site. In the Appendix, Sophocles Hadjisavvas, Curator of Monuments, presents the Khirokitia Archaeological Park created by the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus, with identical reproductions of parts of the city wall and of five of the houses, all built with the same materials and techniques used in the prehistoric settlement in order to convey to the visitor a faithful and vivid reconstruction of the Neolithic village. The guide is also available in Greek, German, and French.