Abstract

The Middle Bronze Age settlement at Erimi Laonin tou Porakou on the east bank of the Kouris River in southern Cyprus is the most extensively excavated site of this period on the island. The settlement consists of a large workshop complex used for the production of textiles, a domestic area and several surrounding tomb complexes. This volume is the full report on the first six seasons of excavations at the site by the Missione Archeologica Italiana a Erimi. It contains a detailed presentation of the architecture and stratigraphy, including building materials and techniques, by Bombardieri followed by specialist chapters on the ceramic (Webb), chipped (McCartney) and ground stone (Webb) assemblages, the small finds (Bombardieri, Fissore & Muti), paleodiet (Scire Calabrisotto), micromorphology (Amadio), radiocarbon dating (Scire Calabrisotto & Fedi), the archaeobotanical and anthracological evidence (Scire Calabrisotto, Vassio, Fioravanti & Gasson), human remains (Albertini & Monaco), shells (Reese), 3D modelling and architectural visualisation (Dolcetti, Bonora, Fiorini, Conti & Tucci), and conservation and restoration procedures (Dionisio). A final chapter by Bombardieri discusses the settlement in its wider context with reference to the landscape and natural resources, the chronology and sequence of occupation, the economy and organisation of labour, ideology and ritual and regional and inter-regional contacts, mobility and migration.