Life at the Furnace:

Settlement ecology emphasizes natural environmental variables such as subsistence resources, other raw materials needed for comfort and health, and materials for exchange. Crucial elements comprise subsistence and surplus production, distribution and consumption, population density, ecological change and environmental setting. However, mining, forestry and agriculture are social processes, and their organization plays a key role in the shaping of settlement characteristics, spatial organization and land transformation.

Data is built from a combination of state of the art intensive and extensive side-by-side archaeological surface survey, topographical survey and a suite of geophysical survey techniques, e.g. ground penetrating radar and resistance survey in the Peristerona Valley and LiDAR with the aim of identifying: 1) anthropogenic structures associated with the smelting and mining operations to tease out settlement organisation and density; as well as 2) anthropogenic impact on the landscape through a diachronic perspective exploring the relationship between mining, charcoal production and settlement decision-making. The analyses explore the relationship between mining, smelting, charcoal production and settlement decision-making around subsistence (production, storage and transport of foodstuffs); living and dying (consumption; settlement density and organisation e.g. proximity to the slag heap); moving (proximity to resources e.g. ore, wood and water) and exchange (imports).

Copper production does not exist in isolation. It requires raw materials, different resources, and labour as well as consumers embedding the settlements involved in an ever-expanding network. LAF’s methodology seeks to test the hypothesis of sustainable management of LULC through geoarchaeological survey. The sedimentary record together with the study of phytoliths and pollen will be used to reconstruct geomorphological and anthropogenic changes during the late Holocene by coring transects across the Peristerona Valley. Luminescence dating supplemented and complemented by radiocarbon dating will provide chronological control. Recent studies from Cyprus have shown that luminescence dating of feldspars is a dependable alternative to quartz dating. Phytolith analysis will be the primary method of studying past flora with pollen contributing where extant. The chrono-stratigraphically controlled sedimentological record will provide insights into sedimentation/erosion rates and LAF will build a 3D model using GIS. Anthropogenic influence will be studied through a diachronic perspective focussing within the later Holocene period to determine the environmental impact of centuries of human exploitation, and whether there is evidence for (un)sustainable practices in specific periods.

The project is co-directed by Kristina Winther-Jacobsen and Angus Graham and draws on the individual research of the project directors in pottery studies and geoarchaeological research and their holistic interpretation of landscapes.

Thilo Rehren will lead the metallurgical survey of ore and slag samples to determine the provenance of the raw materials necessary to understand the spatial aspects and decision-making of metal production.

Myrsini Gkouma will investigate the geomorphological history of the landscape together with Evi Margaritis, who will coordinate the study of the past flora to understand land use land cover change.

Kristian Strutt and Dominic Barker will carry out the topographical and geophysical survey to identify anthropogenic structures associated with the smelting and mining operations to tease out settlement organisation and density.

Smadar Gabrieli will re-evaluate landscape use and occupation during the transition from antiquity into the medieval period.

John Lund will investigate the consequences of exploitation by foreign powers of the natural resources of their colonies through archaeological and historical data

The PhD student will study heritage data from the coastal city, Soli, which will allow us to determine the level of synchronicity between the hinterland and this gateway community

Luke Sollars will be in charge of database design, data management and publication.

Advisory board

LAF draws on an advisory academic board consisting of:

Professor John Bintliff, University of Edinburgh

Research Professor Karin Frei, National Museum, Copenhagen

Senior Lecturer Michael Given, University of Glasgow

Associate Professor Frida Hastrup, Centre for Sustainable Future, University of Copenhagen.

Professor Vasiliki Kassianidou, University of Cyprus

Institutional partners

LAF is an international collaboration between researchers from the Saxo Institute at the University of Copenhagen, the National Museum (Copenhagen), Uppsala University, Lund University, Medelhavsmuseet (National Museums of World Cultures, Stockholm), University of Southampton, the Cyprus Institute, and the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus.

K. Winther-Jacobsen 2022. Mining the hinterland. Ceramic assemblages and material connections in Roman North-western Cyprus and beyond, Annual of the British School at Athens 117.

John Lund, Cypriot connectivity from the Late Classical to the Roman periods. A diachronic perspective, in: G. Bourogiannis (ed.), Beyond Cyprus: Investigating Cypriot Connectivity in the Mediterranean from the Late Bronze Age to the End of the Classical Period, Athens 2022, 553-563.