As the Neolithic way of life spread westwards from the shores of the Levant and Anatolia, seafaring farmers developed the necessary maritime skills and technology to transport people, livestock, and new seed crops to the islands of the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean. In the case of Cyprus, this process of Neolithisation was gradual and incremental, following on from earlier visitations by fisher-foragers at the end of the Pleistocene. From the late 10th millennium BC onwards, groups of seafaring foragers and pioneer farmers made repeated visits to the island, stocking it with wild game (small pigs) and introducing emmer wheat from the neighbouring mainland. As seasonal campsites were established, including the construction of subterranean storage pits at Ayios Tychonas Klimonas (ca. 9100–8600 Cal BC), a greater emphasis was placed on longer-term occupations and the introduction of non-endemic species of animals to hunt and herd, including deer, goat, sheep, and cattle. This lengthy process of adaptation to the new island environment transformed the surrounding sea into a knowable, navigable space, and a portal for movement and travel.

This paper will argue that advances in seafaring technology and the development of a maritime interaction sphere between communities on the island and neighbouring mainland played a crucial role in counteracting the potentially “paralysing isolation” of island life in the early Neolithic. Over time, seafaring may have assumed an ideological or ritualised context, especially in regard to the transfer of esoteric knowledge (the adoption of symbolic practices, rituals, and social institutions), the maintenance of social relations (pathways to ancestral homelands?), and the circulation (and consumption) of exotic materials, objects, and craft technologies, such as obsidian from central Anatolia. For those with the necessary skills to undertake the challenges and risks of regular sea-crossings, the benefits must have outweighed the cost, perhaps by the enhancement of their social status or prestige within their respective communities of practice.

Duncan Howitt-Marshall

Duncan Howitt-Marshall is a maritime archaeologist based in Athens, Greece. He completed his undergraduate studies in the Department of Classics and Ancient History (BA Hons.) at the University of Exeter, followed by an MA in Maritime Archaeology at the University of Southampton. His main research interests include maritime aspects of culture in Mediterranean prehistory, the archaeology of islands (especially Cyprus and Crete), and the origins and early development of seafaring. He has directed seven seasons of underwater archaeological survey in Cyprus, and taken part in other maritime and terrestrial field projects (survey and excavation) in Greece, Cyprus, Sweden and the United Kingdom. He is in the final write-up stages of a PhD at the University of Cambridge, and is a long-term Member of the British School at Athens (BSA).

Contact:
Duncan Howitt-Marshall
British School at Athens
Souedias 52
10676 Athens - Greece
dshowittmarshall@gmail.com

• Neolithic
• Moving Stones