#alashiya

[archaeologs]

Map depicting the Kingdom of Alashiya in the 15th century BC. Map by Simeon Netchev.

Learn more / Daha fazlası https://www.archaeologs.com/w/alashiya/

[oftheglancinghelm-blog]

M. Iacovou 2007: Site Size Estimates and the Diversity Factor in Late Cypriote Settlement Histories

aka “archaeologists know nothing”

- The area outside the walls--extra muros cemeteries, sanctuaries, industrial installations, etc.--that represents land used by the inhabitants of the walled settlement is not taken into the estimate.

- Various parts of the site have been excavated, which represents about 5 percent of the total area, and substantial stone buildings, all with the same orientation, have been found. Several fairly large, multi room buildings front onto at least one long, straight street (about 3.8 m wide), which leads north toward a large public building. This is clearly a settlement type, which …provides sound evidence for an LC IIC town with a high degree of organization, on a grid system, which has been traced around, and connected to, a monumental ashlat building.

- Given that to this day there is not a stone of settlement architecture in situ from this imaginary megasite, one is left gaping as his size estimate. The Late Cypriot settlement's spatial relation to the impressive temenos wall of the sanctuary is no more than a guess. Basically our knowledge of the (invisible) Palaepaphos settlement relies on a surmise from Late Cypriot wells in the localities of Asproyi and Evreti....

- Size is not, today at least, an infallible guide to relative political weight, which is based on the analogy of three modern capitals--Brasilia, Canberra, and Washington.

-Cyprus was in the process of developing from a mostly or totally unified island state (Alashiya) into a decentralized collection of semi-rival city states during the 13th century and culminating in the Iron Age. Result of regional destability? Reverting to chieftain-led city kingdoms?

[oftheglancinghelm-blog]

Alashiya

Alashiya, also spelled Alasiya, was a state which existed in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages, and was situated somewhere in the Eastern Mediterranean. It was a major source of goods, especially copper, for Ancient Egypt and other states in the Ancient Near East. It is referred to in a number of the surviving texts and is now thought to be the ancient name of Cyprus, or an area of Cyprus. This was confirmed by the scientific analysis performed in the Tel Aviv University of the clay tablets which were sent from Alashiya to other rulers.