Tenta, Cyprus

Tenta, also referred to as Kalavasos-Tenta or Tenda, is an Aceramic Neolithic settlement located in modern Kalavasos near the southern coast of Cyprus.

[3][6] The obtained data is of interest to studies of cultural change in Prehistoric Cyprus because Tenta's architectural remains, artefacts, human burials, flora and fauna have been "virtually unchanged for two millennia, suggesting that there was considerable continuity in social organisation as well as technological and economic practices.

[10] According to local tradition, the name of the location refers back to 327 AD when Saint Helena, mother of Constantine I, stayed there in a tent (Greek: Tέντα).

[12] To locate sites, Todd walked nineteen different transects across the valley from east to west – from the Kalavasos Dam to the coast.

"[14] Furthermore, homes at the site were unearthed to find that the stone structures were built of limestone with a mixture of diabase locally accessible in the Vasilikos river.

[6] Rare artefacts were also found inside the walls of structures "including pendants, beads, large arrowheads and ground-stone implements covered with ochre.

"[14] Copious picrolite, a crystal varying from dark green to grey most commonly found in the Kouris Dam, was likely used by the villagers to make jewellery during the Aceramic Neolithic period.

[1] Furthermore, chert was used as a tool by the villagers of Tenta to break things by force as well as to start fires because sparks ignite easily when the rock is struck on a hard surface.

[13] It was expected that the botanical remains of wheat, barley and various legumes would be found in Tenta based on the earlier excavations from the neighbouring Neolithic settlements of Kastros and Khirokitia.

[13] According to Todd, "[a]pproximately 10 litres of every excavated deposit were [...] examined and sorted under low power (10×–50×) magnification using a Bausch and Lomb stereo microscope.

[26] A collection of antlers from deer were also found intact inside three buildings and believed to have been possibly showcased by villagers in Tenta as an achievement of their hunting.

[28][29] The range of animals recovered in the neighbouring Neolithic settlement of Khirokitia similarly was mostly deer, pig and caprinae with a small representation of cat, fox and rodent in the bone fragments.

[30] Hence, the same array of animals – based on the husbanding of pigs and caprines and the hunting of deer – provided the basis for subsistence economies in the Aceramic Neolithic period.

[29][30][31] The main aim of culling these animals for the Tenta and Khirokitia villagers was to consume their meat, but also most likely use their skin and bones for clothes and tools.

[13] In 1994 to 1995, Vassos Karageorghis commissioned and the Anastasios G. Leventis Foundation funded the construction of a tent-like conical or "pyramidal"[1] structure that improved the protection of the remnants of Tenta from the elements.

Neolithic architecture in Tenta, Cyprus
Neolithic stone axes similar to those found at Tenta (from Aghios Epiktitos Vrysi )
Burial in Neolithic settlements as found in Tenta (picture from nearby Khirokitia )