past horizons34 New investigations at the previously unstudied site of Prastion- Mesorotsos, approximately 15km up the Dhiarizos River from Old Paphos, seek to add to our understanding of the prehistory of western Cyprus by filling a gap in our archaeological knowledge. Students and scholars from the University of Edinburgh have worked for decades in western Cyprus, excavating settlements from the Neolithic and Chalcolithic ( ca. 4000- 2500 BC) and the transitional Philia ( ca. 2500- 2350 BC) periods in particular. While previous projects have added a great deal to our knowledge of the prehistory of the island, the transition into the Bronze Age and subsequent developments is unclear, and as yet no site has been excavated that spans from the Chalcolithic through the Bronze Age. As continuous occupation throughout this transition is so rare, it has prompted many to hypothesise that immigrants or influences from Anatolia or Syria supplanted the indigenous cultures on the island, and that this influx brought not only a new economy and society, but also ideas of ritual and cult. As well- known as Paphos itself is, the surrounding region is oddly understudied and many prehistoric periods are largely unknown in western Cyprus. Prastion- Mesorotsos is situated at a crossroads in the landscape and may represent a link between western Cyprus and the more intensively studied cultures of eastern Cyprus. This gives students a real opportunity to make new discoveries relating to how Paphos came to be such an important urban and ritual centre. The 2008 Prastion- Mesorotsos team consisted of undergraduate and postgraduate students, professional topographers, geophysics experts and academic archaeologists. The project was run as a field school, with team members coming from the UK, Ireland, the USA and Canada. Students were involved in all aspects of the project, including fieldwalking and surface collection, geological surveying, drawing and recording, and processing of finds. In addition to the project activities, there were several organised field trips designed to give perspective to the changing environment and society throughout the long history of the site's occupation. The expedition's first season applied a variety of non- intrusive archaeological methods to assess the likelihood that an intact sequence spanning the elusive Chalcolithic- Bronze Age transition exists, which can be investigated in subsequent years by excavation. The main data collection strategy used in the 2008 season involved team members walking transects across the entirety of the site in order to establish the extent, the location and concentration of artefact types and the density of artefacts relating to particular periods. In the area of highest density, a 2m x 2m grid system was employed, which allowed relative ease of collection and provided high resolution in distribution maps. For the rest of the site, which had lower density due to lack of plough cultivation, individual GPS ( Global Positioning Satellite) waypoints were taken for each artefact to sub- metre accuracy. This produced an accurate picture of the distribution of artefacts by type and date for the whole of the site. As these survey data deal largely with the spatial At 10 hectares Prastion- Many prehistoric periods are largely unknown in western Cyprus

35past horizons continued ? ? patterns of artefactual remains, the information collected from the 2008 season was arranged in a Geographical Information Systems ( GIS) database. This allowed for ease of recording as well as the ability to spatially and statistically analyse the data. GIS also allows for analyses that are difficult to quantify otherwise. In particular, a Viewshed Analysis of the entire Dhiarizos Valley ( including Old Paphos) can demonstrate that Prastion occupies a special place in the landscape, at a dogleg in the river valley that has views both down the valley to the sea, and up the valley to the highest point on Cyprus, Mt. Olympus. The proximity of Prastion- Mesorotsos to a major tributary valley heading east also suggests that it may have served as a link between east and west, as well as being in for access to the mountain mineral, vegetal and faunal resources, as well as a being a crossroads between the different cultures of eastern and western Cyprus. In order to understand the resources and pathways available to the ancient residents of Prastion- Mesorotsos, a focused geological survey of the area was conducted, along with an assessment of the routes up and down and in and out of the valley. Due to the steep slope over much of the site only the flattest areas were suitable for the geophysical prospection that was carried out, but the results were encouraging. Patterns of high- resistivity anomalies may indicate subsurface walls and features which will be a priority for test excavations in subsequent seasons. While it is hoped that future excavation will reveal a stratigraphic sequence spanning a series of periods, resistivity analysis conducted on a portion of the site reveals the likelihood that intact Chalcolithic roundhouses and the Early Bronze Age rectilinear buildings co- occur in the same places. An intact chronological sequence should provide definitive evidence that either a hiatus occurred during this transition after which immigrants settled in this place, or that there was continuous local development by the indigenous people. Pottery collected on the surface confirms both Chalcolithic and Bronze Age occupation Prastion- Mesorotsos ranks among the largest prehistoric sites in Cyprus