Description
The Neolithic settlement of Khirokitia, one of the most important in the eastern Mediterranean, was discovered in 1934 by Porphyrios Dikaios, who conducted a research in the area from 1936 to 1946. The excavations were resumed in 1977 by the French archaeological expedition under Alain Le Brun. The first part of the guide includes the history of the research conducted on the site, a detailed description of the houses, the architecture, the materials and building techniques used, their interior arrangement and position of tools and utensils, the funeral rites and the economy of the inhabitants. In the second part, A. Le Brun suggests an exemplar guided tour to the archaeological site. In the Appendix, Sophocles Hadjisavvas, Curator of Monuments, presents the Khirokitia Archaeological Park, a work of the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus featuring identical reproductions of parts of the city wall and five houses, all built with the same materials and techniques employed in the prehistoric settlement. The site is inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage site list.