Search

For many years, the “Neolithic Package” was believed to be a latecomer to the Mediterranean islands. The oldest Neolithic remains were those from the Cypriot aceramic Khirokitia Culture, starting around 7000 cal b.c. Late by mainland standards, the Khirokitia Culture had few parallels with either the Levantine or Anatolian mainland from which it derived. Recent research, however, has revolutionized perspectives on the colonization of these islands, with Cyprus again playing a major role. We now know that the island had a pre-Neolithic occupation around 12,000 years ago. In addition, an early Neolithic occupation predating the Khirokitia Culture has been documented, with both Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and B (or Cypro-PPNB) phases as early as those on the mainland. Most sites are coastal; however, Cypro-PPNB Ais Giorkisis located in the foothills. Interdisciplinary excavations have revealed it to be a unique occurrence, with some of the earliest directly dated domesticates in the Near East, unusual architecture, and evidence for trade and feasting—all of which are summarized here. Ais Giorkiscontributes to emerging research on Cyprus that has reoriented how we view island colonization, early seafaring abilities, domestication processes and accompanying social changes, and the spread of the Neolithic from its core areas.

In this paper, we use obsidian sourcing and lithic analysis data to explore obsidian use and its relationship to social interaction at the Harris site, a large pithouse village located in the Mimbres Valley of southwestern New Mexico. We also use the data to examine whether differences in obsidian procurement strategies and access to obsidian were present between households at the Harris site. The sourced assemblage is one of the largest from a single site in the American Southwest and many of the artifacts are from dated contexts that allow the examination of patterns of obsidian procurement through time as well as within and between households.