Excavations at Late Bronze Age Erimi-Pitharka, Cyprus: The 2024 season

Erimi-Pitharka is a Late Bronze Age (Late Cypriot/LC IIC-IIIA) site in the Kouris Valley of south-central Cyprus. A regional centre in the Kouris Valley, Erimi-Pitharka specialised in production and storage of agricultural products such as grain, olive oil and wine, exemplified by workshops and installations throughout the site, and a dedicated building in Area I/1A. The Area I/1A building is a large complex consisting of a combination of interior and exterior spaces, including rooms, passageways, open and semi-open spaces. The drystone and mudbrick walls and installations were often carved into the natural bedrock, thus creating semi-subterranean rooms and demonstrating a strategy that took full advantage of the local landscape. New excavations were started in 2022 and continued in 2023 and 2024. Here we present the preliminary results of the 2024 campaign. The aim of this latest campaign was to further understand the extent and role of the Area I/1A building. To achieve this, work was continued in previous trenches, and four new trenches were opened in extension of the previous ones. These investigations revealed additional rooms, open spaces and industry-related features, including the largest and as yet most formal room with impressive architecture and finds assemblage. The finds, consisting primarily of ceramic sherds and worked stone tools, further support the role of the complex and Erimi-Pitharka as a site of local and regional production and storage.