Bronze Age Erimi-Pitharka dig reveals expanded ancient complex (photos)

Local archaeology Bronze Age Erimi-Pitharka dig reveals expanded ancient complex (photos) Erimi Pitharka Relevant News Kyriakou wins bronze in vault at Commonwealth Games 28 July 2026 Bronze Age Erimi-Pitharka dig reveals expanded ancient complex (photos) 28 July 2026 Customs stop four Britons trying to leave Paphos with 2,507 tobacco packets 28 July 2026 Newsroom 28 July 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber The Department of Antiquities of the Deputy Ministry of Culture has announced the completion of the 2026 fieldwork season at the Late Bronze Age site of Erimi-Pitharka in the Limassol district, with excavations revealing that a known administrative and production complex extends further than previously thought. The investigations ran from April 20 to May 22, 2026, led by Dr Laerke Recht of the Moesgaard Museum in Denmark, with an international team of students and specialists. The season was funded by grants from the A.G. Leventis Foundation, the Curtiss T. and Mary G. Brennan Foundation, and the Moesgaard Museum. Erimi-Pitharka dates mainly to the Late Cypriot IIC–IIIA period and is considered contemporary with sites such as Alassa and Episkopi-Bamboula in the Kouris Valley. The site has previously produced substantial evidence of agricultural processing, including cereals, olive oil and wine. This year’s work focused on Area I/1A, where earlier excavations had already identified a large building complex believed to have served an administrative and productive role. New trenches to the north and east of previously excavated areas revealed additional rooms and open spaces, some built with large, carefully cut ashlar-like blocks and others using typical drystone construction with mudbrick superstructures. Several of the newly found rooms are larger than those previously uncovered, with features and entrances marking them as significant spaces. The local kafkalla bedrock was cut for pits, storage units and an embedded pithos, and in places crushed and used as flooring material. The season also produced further evidence of processing activity, including numerous stone tools and a substantial quantity of grape seeds, along with signs of a ceramic workshop, including a clay deposit and experimentation with loom-weight manufacture. The finds and architecture continue to support a Late Cypriot IIC–IIIA date for the site, with some indications of an earlier presence dating to the Ceramic Neolithic. Among the most significant spaces uncovered is Room 110, the largest identified at the site so far, measuring at least 7 by 4.30 metres. It features well-built walls, benches, marked entrance thresholds, a stone-lined storage unit, and a large stone press weight. A deposit of raw clay was also found in the room, together with unfired and low-fired loom weights, pointing to local ceramic manufacture and possible textile-related activity. Adjacent rooms include Room 115, another large space, and smaller interconnected Rooms 116, 117 and 118, some retaining plaster floors and features such as steps and a pillar base. Excavations in the southern part of the area, below Courtyard 113, uncovered layers rich in pottery, a small number of animal bones, and a substantial quantity of grape seeds, as well as pits containing discarded material — further evidence of agricultural processing, particularly grape processing possibly linked to wine production. In the eastern trenches, excavation of Room 101 was completed, revealing a smooth, well-preserved plaster floor. A deep pit in its southeastern corner contained a group of near-complete vessels, including decorated Aegean-type pottery and vessels adapted for new uses, such as a bowl with a perforated base and a Plain White ware base repurposed as a lid. South of the room, another deposit included an almost complete Plain White ware bull figurine, a bronze pin and a jug fragment, likely linked to activity in the site’s final phase of occupation. Other finds include additional bronze pins, spindle whorls, loom weights, and fragments of animal figurines, including the head of a boar figurine made of Base Ring ware. A small number of Ceramic Neolithic sherds were also found in deeper levels, particularly beneath Courtyard 113 and in Room 115, suggesting an earlier phase of activity at or near the site, although all architectural remains found to date belong to the Late Bronze Age. The Department of Antiquities said the season’s results reinforce the site’s interpretation as an important production and processing centre in the Kouris Valley during the Late Bronze Age. Excavations are set to continue in future seasons to further define the complex’s limits and clarify the relationship between its production, storage and other associated activities. Subscribe to our Newsletter Latest News Kyriakou wins bronze in vault at Commonwealth Games Customs stop four Britons trying to leave Paphos with 2,507 tobacco packets Four key takeaways from Guterres’s first round of separate talks in Cyprus Cyprus wins silver and bronze on historic Commonwealth Games night Women’s movement backs bicommunal rally for Cyprus reunification Motorcyclist hospitalised after Nicosia traffic collision (photos) Fengaros Festival returns for 14th edition at new venue Follow en.philenews on Google News and be the first to know all the news about Cyprus and the world.