Akrotiri Aetokremnos is a collapsed rock shelter on the southern coast of Cyprus’s Akrotiri Peninsula. The site is on a steep cliff overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, some 40 m below. Excavations at Aetokremnos, in 1987–1988 and 1990, uncovered a 1.0–1.5 m thick package of deposits preserved beneath massive roof-fall blocks. These deposits contained cultural features and artifacts in direct association with huge amounts (nearly 300,000 bones representing at least 505 individual animals) of extinct pygmy hippopotamus (Phanourios minutus) and pygmy elephant (Elephas cypriotes) representing at least three individuals, as well as numerous bird and shell remains (Simmons, 1999).
Aetokremnos is the oldest well-documented archaeological site in Cyprus. Full details of its radiocarbon chronology are provided in Simmons and Wigand (1994). A total of 36 radiocarbon determinations are available for the site. Three of these were from surface specimens, and the remainder was from sealed contexts....
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Mandel, R.D., Simmons, A.H. (2017). Akrotiri Aetokremnos, Cyprus. In: Gilbert, A.S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geoarchaeology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4409-0_67
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