Kalavasos-Tenta Neolithic Settlement
One of the oldest settlements in Cyprus; Neolithic, like Choirokoitia
The story
The settlement stands on a rise west of the Vasilikos river valley, not far from the village of Kalavasos. People lived here more than eight thousand years ago, in the Aceramic Neolithic. They already led a settled life but did not yet make clay pots. A wall surrounded round houses of mud brick and stone, the dead were buried under the floor, and in one house a painting survives: two figures with raised arms. Porphyrios Dikaios began the excavations in 1947, and in 1994 and 1995 a protective pyramid-shaped roof was built over the dig. By local tradition, the name comes from a tent, tenta, where Saint Helena stayed.
Kalavasos-Tenta (Larnaca district) is Neolithic, like Choirokoitia, while Lemba in Paphos district is already Chalcolithic (the Copper Stone Age); don’t confuse them. The site is on the Department of Antiquities website’s list of 12 sites open to the public; you can recognize it by the pyramid roof by the highway.
Visiting
According to the Department of Antiquities website: open Monday to Friday, in winter (Sep 16 – Apr 15) 8:30–16:00, in summer (Apr 16 – Sep 15) 9:30–17:00, closed Saturday and Sunday. Ticket €2.50. Not wheelchair accessible. Check holiday hours on the website.
On the way
Photos
Sources
- Department of Antiquities, Cyprus — Kalavasos-Tenta
- Department of Antiquities, Cyprus — Archaeological sites open to the public
- Hallouminati — exam prep: archaeological sites (Neolithic vs Chalcolithic)
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