Abstract

Recent fieldwork and analytical studies on Late Bronze Age sites and materials call for an updated consideration of this dynamic period in Cypriot pre- and protohistory.
In this study, Knapp reviews and reassesses settlement structure and society on Late Bronze Age Cyprus, highlighting in particular new material evidence from the perspective of the island’s building traditions, its political economy and the social actors involved. To set the scene, some new evidence is presented from recent excavations and research on Middle Bronze Age sites. Turning to the Late Bronze Age, Knapp re-examines some of the island’s main settlements, focusing on recent fieldwork. The study then proceeds by considering the possible functions — mercantile, ceremonial, production/storage, defensive, mortuary — of some of the sites and structures uncovered in recent excavations, and discusses how those inform us about Late Bronze Age society as a whole. This is followed by a critical examination of the distinctive differences between the social, spatial and material correlates of Late Bronze Age Cyprus and those of the transitional, early Iron Age.
The volume concludes with an overview of the Late Cypriot period.