Chalcolithic

The Chalcolithic is the period when Cyprus first works copper, though stone is still the main material. The centre of island life shifts west, into what is now the Paphos district.

Lempa and Kissonerga-Mosfilia lie close together and were excavated over decades. Houses are still round, but roomier than their Neolithic predecessors, with a hearth in the middle and a plastered floor. At Lempa archaeologists rebuilt several of these houses next to the excavation — a rare chance to see a five-thousand-year-old dwelling standing up rather than read it off a ground plan.

The cruciform figurines

The signature object of the Cypriot Chalcolithic is a small figurine of picrolite, the soft green stone from the bed of the Kouris river. A figure with outstretched arms and bent legs, usually cruciform; these were worn around the neck. The richest source was the cemetery of Souskiou-Vathyrkakas — which is also the site looters hit hardest, because such pieces have always been worth stealing.

The east of the island was inhabited too, though it has left far less: Paralimni-Nissia is a rare find for that part of Cyprus.

Around 2500 BC the picture changes. Newcomers arrive, houses turn rectangular, and copper stops being a rarity and becomes the basis of the economy. The Bronze Age begins.