Site of Ayios Yeoryios, north Cyprus, Bones are found on rock ledge 

 to left at bottom of stairs. To right of stairs is old rock-cut chapel and 

 modern white-washed chapel at top. 



phic Society. We had a larger staff this time, including 

 experts in Cypriot prehistory, stone tools, geomorphol- 

 ogy, and cave geology. Preliminary reports on the 1987 

 season have already been published and a report on the 

 1988 season is in press.' 



So far we have excavated more than 1,200 lbs. ot 

 bone and shell from a limited excavation area. The 

 bone is preponderantly of the pygmy hippopotamus, 

 and I estimate that we have over 100-120 individual 

 hippopotami present, of all ages from fetal to very aged. 

 Also present are about 40 bones of the pygmy elephant, 

 from at least three subadult individuals. There are also 

 a large number of bird bones, some quite large in size 

 and identified preliminarily as bustards. These are now 

 under study by Dr. Cecile Mourer-Chauvire, a French 

 expert in Pleistocene Mediterranean avian osteology. 

 It will be interesting to see if they belong to a new 

 "giant" species. 



There is only one fish bone in the entire collec- 

 tion, identified by a fish-bone expert, Mark J. Rose, as 

 probably coming from a grey mullet. Large numbers of 

 edible marine shells, mainly Monodonta, but also the 

 limpet Patella, were excavated. These shells are fre- 

 quently burnt and crushed. Crabs and sea urchins were 

 more rarely eaten by the prehistoric residents ot Akro- 

 tiri. All these marine invertebrates could have been 

 collected in shallow water on the rocky shore. 



About 325 flints, mainly scrapers of various types, 

 have been found. Finds also include a stone pendant 

 and a stone bead, as well as ornamental shells, particu- 

 larly the naturally-holed Dentalium and various holed 

 small gastropods (Columhella, Conus). 



So far we have obtained 15 carbon- 14 dates, 

 making Akrotiri the best dated prehistoric site on Cyp- 

 rus. Discounting the early contaminated surface dates, 

 the samples yield a weighted average of 8230 B.C. (un- 

 calibrated). The earliest dates for the Aceramic 

 Neolithic on the island are 5892 B.C. (uncalibrated), 

 making Akrotiri more than 2,300 years older. 



New intriguing finds from elsewhere on the island 

 suggest that Akrotiri may not be the only site with evi- 

 dence for pt)ssible pygmy mammal/man interaction. 

 Several years ago a pygmy hippopotamus metacarpus 

 (forelimb foot bone) fragment was found at the Acer- 

 amic Neolithic site of Cape Andreas-Kastros at the 

 northeasternmost point of the island. Last summer, a 

 fossil mammal shaft fragment with man-made mod- 

 ification was identified from a surface collection made 



28 



"Simmons 1988a, h; Si 

 Bibliography). 



Held and Reese 1989 (see 



