BRIEF HISTORICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL OVERVIEW OF THE KOURION AREA

The valley of the river Kouris known in the archaeological topography as the Kourion area is one of the richest sites of the entire island in archaeological terms.  

PREHISTORY 

According to Herodotus, the Argives, the ancient inhabitants of Argos, were those who settled Kourion. This very first settlement dating to the Late Bronze Age is identical to the one, which is situated on the Bamboula hill in the east of the Greek neighbourhood of the modern village of Episkopi.  

Bamboula was already used as a cemetery at the Early Bronze Age. The settlement there dates to the 16th century B.C.. A stratigraphy was performed for the most of its part until the early or the mid 12th century LC ΙΙΙΑ and for one section until the next phase, which was the LC ΙΙΙΒ. The 14th century may be considered the prosperity period of this settlement.  

The characteristic architectural style of the houses at Bamboula, with the quadrate trilateral ground plan as well as the ceramic art and the minor objects imitate the Cretan and the Mycenaean model. The discovery of inscriptions in the so-called Cypriot – Minoan script, in the Bamboula settlement, is a typical fact. This script has not yet been deciphered. 

Some remains of the Early and the Middle Bronze Age have also been discovered in the Phaneromeni area, in the east of the Turkish neighbourhood, while in the grand area important settlements dating to the Late Neolithic Age have been found (Sotira, Tteppes, Kantou, Koufovounos) and also to the Chalcolithic Age (Erimi, Bamboula, Sotira, Kaminoudia). In the Ayios Ermogenis’ valley, known as Kaloriziki (= lucky), under the cliffs of Kourion, a big part of the cemetery dating to the Late Bronze Age has been excavated.

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