11,000 year old PPN Neolithic Village in Cyprus

Angela

Elite member
Messages
21,823
Reaction score
12,325
Points
113
Ethnic group
Italian
I'd have to go back and check all the dates again, but if this isn't the first movement out of the Near East, it's close to it, and probably from that "sweet spot" at the juncture of modern day eastern Turkey and northern Syria, an area from which we have as yet no adna. I wonder if they were closer to Levant Neolithic or Anatolian Neolithic people. The fact that the culture has close ties to the Levant Neolithic might indicate that these people form a large part of their genome inheritance.

It seems that 70 kilometers of open sea wasn't much of a problem for them, even though they must have made the trip with their grains, animals and tools. I wonder what propelled them to make what must have been a dangerous journey.

See:
http://phys.org/news/2016-07-uncover-cyprus-year-old-village.html


"The Department said the village's organization, architecture, stone tools and evidence of agriculture and hunting are elements that are very similar to those that have already been identified in the early Pre-Pottery Neolithic Levant between 11,500 and 10,500 years ago."

They grew emmer wheat, and had domesticated dogs and cats.

"Excavations directed by Francois Briois from France's School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences and Jean-Denis Vigne from France's National Center for Scientific Research-National Museum of Natural History found most buildings had built-in fireplaces as well as a 30- to 50-kilogram (66- to 110-pound) millstone.Large quantities of stone tools, stone vessels, stone and shell beads or pendants were also discovered.
The buildings, with a diameter of between three and six meters (10 and 20 feet), were built using earth and strengthened with wooden poles while their floors were often plastered.
The buildings are situated around a circular, 10-meter (33-foot) communal building that was unearthed during digs five years ago. Further surveys and digs carried out since show that the village would have covered an area of at least half a hectare (1¼ acres)."
Earlier excavations had found a water well.
 
Very interesting. As you said, most likely they were descendents of Levant Neolithic. Is it the oldest domesticated cat find?
 
As with dogs, cats are believed to have been domesticated in Asia. They were certainly important in Egypt, with the Egyptians worshiping a cat goddess, Bestet.

Bastet was not only the goddess of cats, but originally a goddess of war, and then morphed into a goddess of protection, joy, dance, music and family.

http://www.landofpyramids.org/images/cat-goddess-bastet-1.jpg

If the researchers are correct, however, this cat precedes that by thousands of years, and the remains found in Cyprus may also be the first evidence of a cat as a pet, as the cat was carefully buried with a woman, and so there was perhaps some affectionate relationship between them.

"Since at least the time of the ancient Egyptians, cats have been cherished as companions, worshipped as idols, and kept as agents of pest control and good luck. But now French archaeologists have found evidence that our close relationship with cats may have begun much earlier.

The carefully interred remains of a human and a cat were found buried with seashells, polished stones, and other decorative artifacts in a 9,500-year-old grave site on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. This new find, from the Neolithic village of Shillourokambos, predates early Egyptian art depicting cats by 4,000 years or more."

"A combination of factors is seen as evidence that the cat and human were intentionally buried together including the good state of preservation of both remains, the burial of an entire cat without any signs of butchering, and the proximity of the skeletons—just 40 centimeters (16 inches) apart. Analysis suggests that the cat was just eight months old at death and was possibly killed in order to be buried alongside the human."


I'd love to see a picture of that particular burial. We're cat people as well as dog people.:) I love watching them. I'm not alone. Apparently, there's a whole group of people who love watching cat and especially kitten videos. Somebody studied it and said it relaxes people. She does relax me, and soothe me. I swear that she knows when I'm upset. She comes and drapes herself across my lap or my chest if I'm laying down, and starts purring. Other times she just acts like a spoiled baby, as she is doing now by trying to distract me from typing by pawing the keys. She obviously wants to be petted. It's amazing how attached one can become to animals.

I've tried to find information on the domesticated dogs they brought with them, but no luck.
 
My buddy Benny. Benny the footballer. Life is about ball. He can find a ball, he can hide a ball, he can kick a ball, no mentioning chasing and catching a ball.
2016-07-01 14.06.39.jpg
 
As with dogs, cats are believed to have been domesticated in Asia. They were certainly important in Egypt, with the Egyptians worshiping a cat goddess, Bestet.

Bastet was not only the goddess of cats, but originally a goddess of war, and then morphed into a goddess of protection, joy, dance, music and family.

http://www.landofpyramids.org/images/cat-goddess-bastet-1.jpg

If the researchers are correct, however, this cat precedes that by thousands of years, and the remains found in Cyprus may also be the first evidence of a cat as a pet, as the cat was carefully buried with a woman, and so there was perhaps some affectionate relationship between them.

"Since at least the time of the ancient Egyptians, cats have been cherished as companions, worshipped as idols, and kept as agents of pest control and good luck. But now French archaeologists have found evidence that our close relationship with cats may have begun much earlier.

The carefully interred remains of a human and a cat were found buried with seashells, polished stones, and other decorative artifacts in a 9,500-year-old grave site on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. This new find, from the Neolithic village of Shillourokambos, predates early Egyptian art depicting cats by 4,000 years or more."

"A combination of factors is seen as evidence that the cat and human were intentionally buried together including the good state of preservation of both remains, the burial of an entire cat without any signs of butchering, and the proximity of the skeletons—just 40 centimeters (16 inches) apart. Analysis suggests that the cat was just eight months old at death and was possibly killed in order to be buried alongside the human."


I'd love to see a picture of that particular burial. We're cat people as well as dog people.:) I love watching them. I'm not alone. Apparently, there's a whole group of people who love watching cat and especially kitten videos. Somebody studied it and said it relaxes people. She does relax me, and soothe me. I swear that she knows when I'm upset. She comes and drapes herself across my lap or my chest if I'm laying down, and starts purring. Other times she just acts like a spoiled baby, as she is doing now by trying to distract me from typing by pawing the keys. She obviously wants to be petted. It's amazing how attached one can become to animals.

I've tried to find information on the domesticated dogs they brought with them, but no luck.
Are you sure she wasn't trying to prank you by hijacking your post and having you "say" "I stink" lol
 

This thread has been viewed 3163 times.

Back
Top