33 - An Entangled Past: Island Interactions, Mortuary Practices and the Negotiation of Identities on Early Iron Age Cyprus

Summary

This chapter discusses the Iron Age archaeology of Cyprus, from the end of the Late Bronze Age (LBA) to the start of the Cypro-Archaic period, ca. 1200-700 BC. First, it considers how the material culture of mortuary practices was actively involved in the multiple social and spatial dynamics, including maritime connections, migrations, colonial encounters and intra-island interactions, that occurred with the collapse of larger, regional palatial societies at the end of the Late Bronze Age. The chapter mainly focuses on the mortuary landscape of Cyprus's East Coast, such as Enkomi, Salamis and Palaepaphos, during the LBA-Early Iron Age. The power of elite groups began to change as the geographical, social and political landscapes shifted; this is reflected in new, hybridised burial practices at Cypro-Geometric period I Salamis. Finally, the chapter explores how the emergence of a city-kingdom was strongly influenced by the prevailing sociopolitical environment at Salamis at the start of the IA.