Long-term change in prehistoric Cyprus.

Crewe, Lindy

LOUISE STEEL. Cyprus Before, History: from the earliest settlers to the end of the Bronze Age. xvii+279 pages, 70 figures, 29 b&w plates. 2004. London: Duckworth; 0-7156-3164-0 paperback 18 [pounds sterling].

PRISCILLA KESWANI. Mortuary Ritual and Society in Bronze Age Cyprus (Monographs in Mediterranean Archaeology). xiii+257 pages, 18 figures, 38 tables. 2004. London/Oakville (CT): Equinox; 1-904768-03-2 hardback 70 [pounds sterling].

The study of the archaeology of Cyprus has progressed in recent decades from being considered a poor relation of its Aegean and eastern Mediterranean neighbours to becoming a rich and dynamic field. This is highlighted by two recent books which make extremely valuable contributions to Cypriot archaeology and should also be of interest to a wider audience. Both present overviews of the island's prehistory and set themselves the task of constructing narratives for long-term social change.

Prehistoric Cyprus

Louise Steel's Cyprus Before History serves both as a comprehensive introductory text for students of Cypriot archaeology and as a well-referenced source for archaeologists working in Cyprus and the wider Mediterranean, who wish to explore beyond their particular field of expertise. As noted in the introduction, an updated overview of Cypriot prehistory is long overdue. New data from recent excavation and survey have challenged many preconceptions, and given rise to a range of explanations, which will no doubt change as work on the island continues.

Steel's volume incorporates recent fieldwork, survey and theory, both particular to Cyprus and to archaeology in general, to provide an outline of Cypriot prehistory from the first evidence of humans in the epi-Palaeolithic through to the end of the Late Bronze Age, in c. 1050 BC. The author strikes a balance between presenting the data in a manner accessible to non-experts and with sufficient detail to highlight contentious issues within the field, exposing the often conflicting views current in Cypriot archaeology and giving the reader the choice to further pursue the extensive references.

Chapter 1 outlines the geography and resources of Cyprus and provides a brief history of research on the island, which is of importance as the typologies and relative chronological constructs of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries prove increasingly difficult to tie in with new data. Steel gives an account of the various problems particular to the interpretation of Cypriot prehistory: settlement shift through time resulting in a lack of multi-period sites combined with tombs often in use for hundreds of years, and pronounced regional differences in material culture previously interpreted as signalling chronological sequences. The remainder of the book is organised thematically by culture-historical periods, highlighting aspects of production, economy, use of space, ritual, social organisation and characteristics of material culture in the different phases. Tables, site plans and illustrations of various type artefacts are included.

Steel emphasises recent attempts to move beyond a traditional 'passive' role for the prehistoric inhabitants of Cyprus during significant changes in lifeways and the need to find a balance between explanations involving the influences of newcomers with indigenous developments. The earliest known permanent settlers on the island are now dated to around the ninth to early tenth millennium BP and show connections with the Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B of the mainland. It has also become apparent that the transitional period between the Chalcolithic and the Early Bronze Age (the Philia phase) is best interpreted as a combination of indigenous developments and migrant populations. Important excavations of Early to Middle Bronze Age settlements currently indicate that a non-hierarchical village-based society continued to exist throughout the period, contrasting with an increase in variability of amounts of copper-based artefacts deposited in tombs. Several important Late Bronze Age sites have increased our knowledge of the latter second millennium BC but the earlier phases of the Late Bronze Age are unlikely to become clear until well-preserved settlement strata from the beginning of the period can be found. Given the gaps in the data, it is not possible or desirable to construct an authoritative narrative of Cypriot prehistory at this time and Steel's balanced approach is appropriate.

Bronze Age Cyprus

Priscilla Keswani's publication, Mortuary Ritual and Society in Bronze Age Cyprus, is a welcome move beyond the still-prevalent focus on tombs merely as repositories for grave goods. The book is an indispensable tool for anyone attempting to come to terms with the extremely complex and highly variable resolution of the Cypriot mortuary record. The data set comprises over 1500 tombs from around 45 sites over a period of 1500 years; information is detailed in extremely useful appendices listing all excavated tombs, along with references to publications at the end of the volume.

Due to an early archaeological focus on recovery of tombs and their contents, the mortuary record of Cyprus is in many respects more comprehensive than the settlement evidence. However, as the author points out in Chapter 3, archaeologists are faced with several problems in interpreting tomb material. These include the less than ideal conditions on Cyprus for preservation of both the tombs and their contents; multiple inhumations contained in tombs which were often in use for hundreds of years; the vagaries of archaeological reporting of osteological information as well as find contexts; and the ongoing problems of destruction of context through looting and the rapid pace of development on the island.

The first part of the volume outlines the theoretical framework, discussing changing perceptions in archaeology of the significance of variability in mortuary studies, particularly from processual to postprocessual interpretations. The tomb data are divided into two phases that correlate with the broader picture for social organisation attested in the settlement record. The first of these, the Early and Middle Bronze Ages (c. 2400-1750 BC), encompasses the period during which the use of extramural cemeteries first became widespread on Cyprus. During the Late Bronze Age (c. 1750-1050 BC), existing inland villages were abandoned and new coastal settlements established, rapidly developing into polities. The period also saw a partial return to intramural burial practices. Keswani emphasises the importance of situating the role funerary ritual played within the living society in order to examine 'how ritual practices mar be deployed and transformed in situations of economic intensification and increasing political complexity (p. 2).

Given the difficulties inherent in fine-scale interpretation of individual tomb groups, Keswani's approach is successful in providing a broad view of changes in Cypriot society, particularly when integrated with the settlement evidence. Although the wealth of Cyprus' copper resources has long been assumed to be instrumental in the transformation from insular, small-scale communities to an important member of the Late Bronze Age Mediterranean trading system, this work goes a long way towards providing a convincing thesis regarding some of the mechanisms for this change. In Chapter 4, Keswani outlines the theory that increases through the Early-Middle Cypriot period in the importance of copper as a medium for competitive status display in the mortuary arena stimulated production by the Cypriot population. This, rather than the material's more prosaic qualities, may have led to greater visibility of the resource to outsiders, leading to further demand for extraction for export and eventually to a demand for tin for manufacture of bronze and for other exotic goods on Cyprus. Keswani disagrees with the standard interpretation that the apparently wealthier burials are indicative of an institutionalised elite and argues that social status remained fluid until into the Late Cypriot period, when wealth and exotic goods become concentrated in coastal centres (p. 142-3).

Of particular importance is the discussion of the significance of collective burial and the possible evidence for rituals and funerary ceremonies enacted by the living. Keswani identifies several instances of secondary reburial in the data set, including deliberately emptied tombs, movement of goods and individuals between mortuary facilities and selective deposition of body parts in tombs. Incomplete or disarranged skeletal material (where recorded by the excavator) has previously been attributed to looting or post-depositional factors, or in several cases for the end of the Middle and beginning of the Late Bronze Age, to 'mass burials' interpreted as evidence for warfare or epidemic (p. 49). Keswani draws a convincing picture of secondary ritual to support her view of the centrality of funerary display to the development of competitive prestige systems during the Cypriot Bronze Age.

Keswani presents a compelling case for moving beyond interpretation of 'prestige goods' towards a more holistic approach incorporating the actions of the living in reconstructing society from mortuary practices. In her epilogue, Keswani outlines the need to implement methodologies to deal comprehensively with the recovery and recording of mortuary data. It is to be hoped that her recommendations are followed, particularly as the majority of Cypriot tombs now investigated have already been partially disturbed by bulldozers or looters.

Lindy Crewe, Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, The British Museum, London, UK