Rural Landscape Practices and Authority: Iron Age Cyprus and Assyria

Abstract

Changes in rural landscape practices across time are increasingly attracting attention in archaeology. Though excavation of rural sites is becoming more common, the vast majority of rural sites in the ancient Mediterranean are still understood primarily through survey. This thesis asks how the organization of hinterland sites in Cyprus changed from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age and how these rural patterns fit within Cyprus’s regional and political context. I consider the results from several survey projects in Cyprus and northern Mesopotamia. I pay special attention to the Maroni valley in Cyprus, where I apply an underutilized statistical measure, Moran’s I. I argue that a cohesive pattern for Cyprus in the Iron Age can be identified, despite previous difficulties. I also argue that the changes observed in both the Cypriot and northern Mesopotamian rural landscape practices may be understood through the ideological and political lens of the Assyrian Empire.