Archaeologists have uncovered new evidence of a sprawling administrative and industrial complex at a Late Bronze Age settlement in southern Cyprus, following a month-long excavation season that ended last month.
The Department of Antiquities, part of Cyprus’s Department of Culture, announced the conclusion of the 2026 dig at Erimi-Pitharka, in the Limassol district, which ran from 20 April to 22 May under the direction of Dr Laerke Recht of Denmark’s Moesgaard Museum. She led an international team of students and specialists, with funding provided by the A.G. Leventis Foundation, the Curtiss T. and Mary G. Brennan Foundation, and Moesgaard Museum itself.
The site dates chiefly to the Late Cypriot IIC–IIIA period, roughly the 13th to 12th centuries BC, placing it alongside other significant settlements in the Kouris valley such as Alassa and Episkopi-Bamboula. Previous seasons had already revealed traces of a large building complex at Erimi-Pitharka, thought to have served an administrative role or overseen the production of goods including cereals, olive oil and wine.
This year’s excavations, concentrated on the northern and eastern edges of the complex, showed that the structure extends considerably further than previously realised. Newly uncovered rooms and open spaces were built using a mixture of carefully dressed stone blocks and more typical dry-stone walls topped with mudbrick. Several of the chambers proved larger than any found before, with features suggesting they held particular importance.
Chief among the discoveries is Room 110, the largest space identified at the site to date, measuring seven metres by 4.3 metres. It is bordered by sturdy walls, work benches, doorway thresholds, a stone-lined storage area and a large stone weight. Excavators also found a deposit of unfired clay alongside loom weights in various stages of manufacture, pointing to on-site production of both pottery and textiles.
Nearby, Room 115 and a cluster of smaller connecting chambers were also revealed, some with floors of lime plaster and architectural details including stepped surfaces and a pillar base. To the south, deposits rich in pottery, sparse animal bone and a substantial quantity of grape pips, together with basins containing refuse, reinforce the theory that agricultural produce — grapes in particular — was processed here, most likely for winemaking.
To the east, the excavation of Room 101 was completed, revealing a smooth, well-preserved plaster floor. In one corner, archaeologists found a deep basin containing a group of near-complete vessels, including Aegean-style decorated pottery and repurposed items such as a cup with a pierced base and a plain white ware base used as a lid. Further finds nearby included a nearly intact clay bull figurine, a bronze fibula and a fragmented vessel, thought to relate to activity from the site’s final phase of use.
Other notable discoveries include bronze fibulae, loom weights, and fragments of animal figurines, among them the head of a wild boar figurine in Rilievo ware. Excavation of the lower layers also turned up a small number of Ceramic Neolithic sherds, particularly between two of the rooms, hinting at a much earlier phase of occupation — although all architectural remains found so far belong to the Late Cypriot period.
Researchers say the findings strengthen the case for Erimi-Pitharka as a major centre of production in the wider Kouris valley during the Late Cypriot period. Excavations are expected to continue in future seasons, with the aim of establishing the full extent of the complex and better understanding the relationship between its production and storage areas.
