One of the oldest settlements in Cyprus, Hirokitia is located on the top of a gentle hill near Larnaca. It is believed to have been founded around 9,000 years ago, during the Neolithic period. Due to its venerable age, it has even been inscribed on the UNESCO Cultural Heritage List.
Little is known about the people who built Chirokitia. Their village is unlike any other that has ever existed on the island. Therefore, archaeologists have even come up with a separate name for this "mini-civilisation" - the Neolithic Pre-Ceramic Culture of Cyprus. As for the name of the city itself, it received the same name as the modern village located at the foot of this hill.
The settlement consisted of many round buildings, both residential and economic. Often several of these buildings were placed very close together around a kind of courtyard. Since only small fragments of the buildings have survived, it was decided to reconstruct some of them in order to demonstrate what they used to look like. Therefore, four new houses were built directly on the excavated foundations using the ancient technology of mud and stones. And before that it was believed that the roofs of the buildings had the form of a dome, but recently scientists confidently state that they were simply flat.
One of the main features of this place is that its inhabitants buried the dead directly in the floor of their homes. A stone staircase led to the top of the hill where Hirokitia was located, and a wall was built around the entire settlement.
The local inhabitants, and there were about six hundred people, mainly grew cereal grains and engaged in cattle breeding. They also gathered wild fruits. Surprisingly, some scientists claim that rice was also grown in the settlement. Hence, nine thousand years ago, the island was a wet and swampy place, because this crop grows only in such conditions.
