Obsidian maritime connections in Eastern Mediterranean prehistory

Abstract

Despite recent mounting evidence demonstrating the successful early exploitation of insular environments around the globe as far back as 100 ka, the island of Cyprus is still persistently regarded as isolated from regional phenomena and largely unaffected by them. The main reason behind this marginality view is the island’s insularity and geographic location at the periphery of the continent. Following a Terminal Pleistocene occupation, the Early Holocene signals the first permanent settlements on the island dating to around 10 ka and followed by a settlement expansion in the Middle Holocene (ca. 8 ka). The traditional view of Cyprus regards these early settlements as the outcome of Neolithic farmers who arrived from the mainland and subsequently turned their backs to the continent developing in isolation because of the presumed sea barriers prohibiting communication.