Ancient floor not seen for 10,000 years

Cyprus Mail, 10-01-2013

An ancient floor which has not seen the light of day for 10,000 years has been uncovered at the Ayia Varvara Asprokremmos site, the antiquities department said yesterday. The department said new finds during the latest excavations had redefined the understanding of the kind of human occupation that existed at the Neolithic site in the Nicosia district, which has been radio-carbon dated to between c. 8,800-8,600 BC.

The excavations took place in November 2012 and were run by Dr Carole McCartney on behalf of the University of Cyprus working in partnership with Cornell University and the University of Toronto. According to an announcement, the floor which “was exposed for the first time in 10,000 years” exhibited a dished form, raised above the central area providing a rough bench that ran along the circumference of the interior wall. The floor was made of trampled mud, refreshed by erosional washed sediments that appear to have collected during short term (perhaps seasonal) abandonment events. “As seen in the northern side of the feature, ash heaps and stone tools were stratified in a sequence of repeated use events,” the department said. 

Read more: http://cyprus-mail.com

Read also: http://mcw.gov.cy