Neolitic II Ayios Epiktitos Catalkoy

Neolitic II Ayios Epiktitos Catalkoy

The best example of a Neolithic II site in our area is at Vrysi, near Ayios Epiktitos (Turkish Catalkoy), which is dated by the Carbon method from 4410 to 3750 BC.l7 It lies on a small headland about 12 km east of North Cyprus Kyrenia, looking as if it is about to fall away into the sea, which did happen to part of it, maybe even during Neolithic occupation. Perhaps it was because the settlement was so exposed to the winter winds blowing across the sea from the Taurus mountains of Anatolia, that the first settlers scooped out great troughs in the rock and built their huts below-ground. But the impression the excavators gained here and elsewhere was of secret villages deliberately concealed from strangers. The first huts were flimsily made, sometimes of timbers infilled with leaves and bark. Southwards the village was fortified by a ditch.50m deep and 7m wide and also a wall, to isolate the tip of the headland. Later generations made stronger houses; they had drystone walls plastered with clay, yet even so they collapsed from time to time and had to be rebuilt. When the early ditch had silted up its area was available as a hollow to build new houses in, still below ground level. Possibly the threat passed which had made their forefathers live behind a ditch and small tight groups of houses linked together by narrow passages now spread over the headland. But then again, any new ditch to enclose a larger area may still await discovery.18 In the last phase some of the houses protruded above ground, but their tops have been eroded away by weather on this windy site. Since there were no windows and the doors were placed high up, it was very dark in these huts and lamps had to be used. Each room had a small round hearth and a stone bench behind it. There must have been wooden shelves or lofts to store all their gear; the clutter lying around was what one would expect to find in a workshop, so the sleeping quarters may have been on an upper floor. One roof of an early house had collapsed, bringing the walls down, and the excavators found everything neatly preserved underneath. Unusually, the silicates from reeds had survived at this site, giving the chance to ascertain that reeds were laid across pine roof-timbers and that grass was strewn down on the floors. Two stone pillars stood up against a wall in this house, one was shaped like a phallus, the other was plain. Traces of silicates wrapping round them suggest that they had been 'clothed' in some kind of robe; the silicates looked as though they had been plaited together and had formed patterns, including an oval one, on the garment. Other pillars have often been found on Near-Eastern sites of this date, they too could have been dressed up in this way. Evidently textiles were important at Vrysi; 250 bone needles and 132 spindle whorls were found in the earliest level. To judge by the number of sheep or goats' bones, wool was the likely yarn that was used. One need not be surprised that textiles were being made here, since weaving is known from mainland Turkey some 2,000 years earlier than this. Another craft in the village was stone-knapping, the floors were littered with chippings, and the finished polished tools and utensils might have been used in connection with farming. Crops such as wheat, barley, lentils and fruits such as olive, fig and vine were being gathered; sheep, goats and possibly pigs were kept. There were a few dogs and possibly even a domestic cat. Fallow deer were being hunted in nearby woodlands and some sea-food was collected as well. Bone hooks were found in the earliest level, but they do not look very much like fish-hooks. The space between the point and the shank was very small, and they were fragile little things; so it might be that they were used as fasteners for necklaces made of very small delicate beads, or of sea shells. There were also some clay cones or plugs, quite small and sometimes very highly polished, which might have been face ornaments, to be set in the ear, lip or nose. Lastly, the Vrysi pottery was both sturdy and well finished. In one house there was a large vessel propped up off the floor on a stone. It had a bung-hole near the base, for drawing off liquids. Bowls and jugs were painted in bold designs of circles or wavy lines and later, checkers. The same kind of pottery turns up at the neighbouring site of Troulli II. Around 3000 BC there was an earthquake, which seems to mark the end of Neolithic II. At the beginning of the reconstruction period which followed, houses were less substantial, perhaps the people now followed a migratory way of life.

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