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Completion of the Choirokoitia digs for 2009 (Cyprus)

The Department of Antiquities of the Ministry of Communications and Works announces the completion of the archaeological excavations at the Neolithic site of Choirokoitia. Excavations were carried out in July and August by the National Centre of Scientific Research of France under the direction of Dr A. Le Brun.

Research undertaken in 2005 on the north side of the hill where the site is installed was completed. The aim of this research was to determine the outline of the walls, which constituted the successive boundaries of the settlement.

The results obtained have, in many points, profoundly altered our view of the site of Choirokoitia and, more widely, our knowledge concerning the recent phase of the Neolithic Aceramic period of Cyprus.

Research of previous years has shown that the expansion of the built area on the south side occurred simultaneously with the abandonment of the north side. Therefore, the history of the settlement needed to be reconsidered: it must be interpreted as a rearrangement of the built environment rather than the expansion of the village.
Read entire article at ISRIA