Khirokitia (sometimes spelled Choirokoitia; Greek: Χοιροκοιτία [çiɾociˈti.a], suggested meaning Pig-cradle, from χοίρος 'pig, boar' + κοιτίς 'place of origin, cradle') is an archaeological site on the island of Cyprus dating from the Neolithic age.

Much of its importance lies in the evidence of an organised functional society in the form of a collective settlement, with surrounding fortifications for communal protection.

[8][9] The settlement of Khirokitia is situated on the slope of a hill in the valley of the Maroni River, towards the southern coast of the island about 6 km from the sea.

[10] Subsistence methods practiced by its Neolithic inhabitants included farming crops like wheat, barley, lentils, peas, horse bean, and vetch, foraging olives, flax, figs, pistachios, plums, and pears, herding sheep, goats, and pigs, and hunting deer.

[11][12][13] It is a closed village, cut off from the outside world, apart from by the river, by a strong wall of stones 2.5 m thick and 3 m at its highest preserved level.

This, the earliest known culture in Cyprus, consisted of a well-organised, developed society mainly engaged in farming, hunting and herding.

[18] The village of Khirokoitia was suddenly abandoned for reasons unknown at around 6000 BC and it seems that the island[19][full citation needed] remained uninhabited for about 1500 years until the next recorded entity, the Sotira group.

More recent discoveries, however, including several sites in the vicinity of the ancient acropolis of Amathus on the eastern edge of modern Limassol, have filled this chronological gap considerably, revealing that the island was probably occupied continuously at least from the ninth millennium BC.

It was also claimed that maybe the name originated from the plant Annona cherimola, which is found cultivated in Cyprus under the more simple name "Cheromolia", although this is considered very unlikely.