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Cities of the dead: approaching the lost landscape of Hellenistic and Roman necropoleis of Cyprus

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Abstract

An analytic approach of the numerous but poorly documented Hellenistic and Roman necropoleis of Cyprus, excavated or simply spotted through the years, is presented in this paper. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) were used so as to better understand the lost landscape of the Hellenistic and Roman necropoleis. GIS were applied to visualize, rationalize, and analyze the vast quantity of material, starting from the simple site location of the known Hellenistic and Roman cemeteries, proceeding with an analytic approach of the available scarce information, to reveal eventually specific spatial patterns. Initially, indexing, registration, topographic documentation, and mapping linked with all the necessary information of the known necropoleis were accomplished. In addition, spatial analysis considering environmental and other parameters in GIS was carried out in a macroscale perspective. The above analysis resulted notable aspects related to the lost funerary landscape of ancient Cyprus.

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Acknowledgments

This study is based on the PhD thesis of Dr Vasiliki Lysandrou submitted in 2014 in the Department of History and Archaeology of the University of Cyprus. The authors would like to thank former and active directors of the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus for their permission of studying the archives of the Survey Branch. Many thanks are owned to the Remote Sensing and Geo-Environment Laboratory of the Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics of Cyprus University of Technology, as well as to the Archaeological Research Unit of the University of Cyprus. Special thanks are given to the Cyprus Geological Survey for the digital geological data provided.

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Lysandrou, V., Agapiou, A. Cities of the dead: approaching the lost landscape of Hellenistic and Roman necropoleis of Cyprus. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 8, 867–877 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-015-0267-y

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