In recent years researchers working on the material culture of the later Neolithic period in Cyprus (ca 7000-4000 cal. BC) have recognised technological and typological affinities with the chipped stone, ground stone and pottery of the central and northern coastal Levant. Possible connections with the mainland at this time have been alluded to in several publications but the evidence is, as yet, anecdotal and based exclusively on published material. Even so, there has been some wider discussion of the significance of these affinities for our understanding of the transmission of materials, knowledge and ideas. Without comparative studies of the artefact assemblages from the Levant it seems that this line of enquiry for Cypriot researchers has now reached an impasse.

Although there is no incontrovertible evidence for contact between Cyprus and the mainland following the social re-organisation that happened post-PPNB, incised stones found at Kholetria-Ortos, Kalavasos-Kokkinoyia and Khirokitia-Vounoi bear striking resemblance to contemporary incised stones from sites in northern Israel, Lebanon, Jordan and western Syria. Thus, if links continued between Cyprus and the mainland into the 7th millennium BC and beyond (and the incised stones seem to suggest they did) it is important that a systematic study be undertaken in order to determine their nature and extent.

Contextualising Neolithic Cyprus (Syria) aims to examine the ways in which contact with the Levant continued post-PPNB, through comparative analyses of artefact assemblages on the mainland and in Cyprus. The project is divided into four phases: 1) a pilot study to asses the extent of, and likely access to, relevant assemblages in Syria and Lebanon. 2) A detailed analysis of the pottery, chipped stone and ground stone collections in Lebanon and Syria. 3) A comparative analysis of the Cypriot material. 4) A possible extension of the project to the south and north of the study region in light of results from phases two and three.

Analysis will focus, in the first instance, on the three artefact groups, pottery, chipped stone and ground stone (in particular, the incised stones) due to their relative abundance in the archaeological record. Changing degrees of resemblance in the technological and stylistic production sequences for each artefact group will be assessed over time. A data base will be compiled which will form the basis for measures of association on aspects of the production sequences. In addition, samples with be taken for scientific study where permission is given.

The Council for British Research in the Levant have funded the first phase of the project the aims of which have been to calculate the extent, condition and accessibility of the chipped stone, ground stone and pottery assemblages from relevant sites in Syria and Lebanon, including, Ras Shamra, Tell Sukas, Qal’at al-Mudiq, Hama, Byblos, Tell Ramad III, Shir, Tell Ain el-Kerkh, Tell Aray and Tell Abd el-Aziz.