Description of the attraction
One of the oldest settlements in Cyprus, Choirokitia is located on the top of a gentle hill near Larnaca. It is believed that it was founded about 9 thousand years ago, in the Neolithic era. Due to its venerable age, this place was even included in the UNESCO Cultural Heritage List.
Almost nothing is known about the people who built Khirokitia. Their village is unlike any other that has ever existed on the island. Therefore, archaeologists even came up with a separate name for this "mini-civilization" - the Neolithic pre-ceramic culture of Cyprus. As for the name of the city itself, it received the same name as the modern village located at the foot of this hill.
The settlement consisted of many round buildings, both residential and economic. Often, several of these buildings were located very close to each other around a kind of courtyard. Since only small fragments of buildings have survived to this day, it was decided to restore some of them in order to clearly demonstrate what kind they had earlier. Therefore, four new houses were erected right on the excavated foundations using ancient technology - from mud and stones. And before that, it was believed that the roofs of the buildings had the shape of a dome, but recently, scientists confidently declare that they were just flat.
One of the main features of this place is that its inhabitants buried the dead right in the floor of their houses. A stone staircase led to the top of the hill where Choirokitia was located, and a wall was erected around the entire settlement.
Local residents, and there were about six hundred people, mainly cultivated cereals and were engaged in cattle breeding. They also picked wild fruits. Surprisingly, some scientists state that rice was also grown in the settlement. Consequently, nine thousand years ago, the island was a wet and swampy place, because this culture grows only in such conditions.
