1Accessibility to social roles and functions may directly correspond to the accessibility or inaccessibility of physical spaces. Far from being a neutral background, architecture emerges from human choices and, in turn, actively structures the ways people inhabit, experience, and differentiate their worlds providing both the framework and the arena for social inclusion and discrimination. The ratio between erected and demolished walls becomes meaningful only on a longue durée perspective, as boundaries are constantly built, erased, and rebuilt to structure relationships of power and identity.
2Building a wall is, in essence, the counterpart of deepening a gap. This reflection acquires a contemporary resonance when considered in relation to Cyprus, the only European country where a physical wall still divides the heart of its capital, Nicosia. The illusion of protection, the desire for inclusion, and the simultaneous production of exclusion have long characterised walled communities, both ancient and modern. The social mechanisms of inclusion inevitably reproduce their opposites: exclusion and separation.
3The present paper engages with this dialectic by tracing the archaeological and architectural evidence for segregated and controlled spaces emerging gradually in Cyprus during the initial stages of the Bronze Age. By focusing on the interplay between built form and social practice, it explores how physical boundaries structured access, identity, and power, shaping not only settlement organisation but also community cohesion and differentiation.
4The theoretical premise of this approach rests on the idea that social relations are materially expressed through spatial organisation. Architecture, as a form of embodied action, constructs social reality and mediates collective experience. Built space might be treated as a dynamic process, both a product and an agent of human interaction, where inclusion and exclusion become materially visible.
5Walls, thresholds, and enclosures are not mere physical markers but symbolic devices that communicate status, social identities, and belonging. The Bronze Age landscapes of Cyprus offer a particularly rich ground for examining how spatial differentiation articulated emerging social hierarchies. This paper aims to extend this approach by exploring how domestic, productive, and ritual spaces were socially charged arenas in which power and identity were negotiated.
6The discussion begins with the Early Bronze Age evidence (2500/2400-2100/2050 BCE), notably the Vounous model, which encapsulates both the physical and ideological construction of restricted space. It then moves to the Middle Bronze Age (2100/2050-1690/1650 BCE), where new forms of segregation within settlements such as Erimi-Laonin tou Porakou (herafter Erimi-LtP) reveal increasingly complex spatial and social systems. The overall aim is to examine how architecture itself participated in the social production of hierarchy, long before the appearance of urban centres in the Late Bronze Age.
7During the Early Bronze Age, sacred areas in Cyprus were likely open-air spaces of worship, designated enclosures bordered (or fenced) by perishable materials such as wood, where communal rituals and festivals took place. While no direct architectural remains survive for this period, their existence is indirectly suggested by a few Red Polished ware terracotta models representing enclosed settings for ritual activity.
- 1 Georgiou 2017, pp. 80-85, p. 91.
8Beyond the recently documented very relevant example from Tomb 50 at Nicosia-Agia Paraskevi,1 the most widely cited parallel is the terracotta model from Tomb 22 at Bellapais-Vounous, which dates to the final phase of the Early Bronze Age and represents the most elaborate known instance of such figural compositions.
- 2 Dikaios 1934; Åström 1972; Karageorghis 1970; Karageorghis 1993, pp. 72-73.
- 3 Webb 1999.
- 4 Peltenburg 1994.
- 5 Steel 2013.
- 6 Sneddon 2019.
9The Vounous bowl has long stood at the centre of debate on representation, ritual, and emergent authority in the Cypriot Bronze Age. First described by P. Dikaios, the model depicts a complex internal tableau of eighteen human figures, four cattle pens, and a tripartite shrine structure. While early interpretations emphasized its religious or funerary significance as a pivotal stage in the evolution of Cypriot ritual iconography,2 later interpretations have drawn attention to its social and ideological dimensions. In a broader interpretive framework, J. M. Webb has viewed such models as precursors of Late Cypriot ritual architecture, in which spatial organization and iconographic program served to encode social differentiation and the performance of authority.3 E. J. Peltenburg argued that the bowl’s spatial organization, structured into concentric and symbolically bounded zones, articulates a new form of hierarchical power emerging in Early Cypriot society.4 His reading of the bowl as a constructed enclosure symbolizing the mediation between secular and sacred realms prefigures more recent analyses of visual communication and authority. Building on such perspectives, L. Steel reinterpreted the Vounous bowl as a medium of social discourse and mnemonic performance.5 Through a structural reading, she proposed that the model encapsulates the material expression of Early Bronze Age community organization, in which the enthroned male figure and inner circle of seated individuals embodied elders and ancestral mediators, whose authority derived from ritual knowledge and control of symbolic capital. This approach situates the bowl not merely as a ritual scene but as a performative agent that materialized and reproduced social hierarchies. Complementing this, A. Sneddon has refined our understanding of the bowl’s iconography through possible comparative evidence from Alambra-Mouttes.6 The representation includes human figures of different sizes and gestures, probably performing various ritual functions in front of a tripartite structure attached to the inner wall, opposite the entrance of the enclosure. The composition conveys a clear spatial and social ordering: the division between interior and exterior, between those who act and those who observe.
- 7 Coleman 1996, p. 329.
- 8 Peltenburg 1994, p. 159; Steel 2013, pp. 52-53.
10Beyond mentioned debates over its meaning – whether a sacred ceremony, funerary ritual, ancestor cult, or genre scene – the Vounous model crucially depicts a segregated space with restricted access. It thus provides an early material metaphor for the negotiation between inclusion and exclusion within Cypriot Bronze Age communities. J. Coleman, while emphasising the egalitarian character of Early to Middle Cypriot village life, argued that any authority embodied in the larger seated figure of the Vounous model was confined to the extended household.7 On a broader scale, however, many scholars interpret the object as an idealised representation of emergent elite authority, the physical expression of emergent hierarchy in Early Bronze Age Cyprus.8
- 9 Steel 2013; Vavouranakis 2023.
11The enclosed circular space symbolises a male, secular hierarchy and the embodiment of privileged social knowledge. Access is regulated through spatial separation, possibly projecting the prestige of a particular gender and age group. Outside the enclosure, a solitary figure peers over the wall,9 one of the rare depictions of an outsider in Mediterranean Bronze Age art. This excluded observer powerfully embodies the human desire for social inclusion and visually anticipates the construction of hierarchical order. In this sense, the Vounous model encapsulates what we expect from art in general: the capacity to mirror the tensions of its social world.
12The transition from the Early to the Middle Bronze Age in Cyprus marks a profound transformation in social structure and spatial organisation. New social identities and relationships emerged, transforming the earlier household-based system into a more complex community network that foreshadowed later urbanisation. This change is mirrored archaeologically in the increasing segregation of residential, funerary, and productive spaces, each characterised by different degrees of accessibility and control.
- 10 Webb, Knapp 2021; Bombardieri 2023a.
13What Jenny Webb and Bernard Knapp have described as the disappearing Middle Bronze Age is now gaining clearer definition. Recent research suggests that the acknowledged internationalism of Late Bronze Age Cyprus had its antecedents in the Middle Bronze Age, and that the changes at the close of the MC period represent the culmination of an evolving sequence of internal developments and external interactions. These processes, far from being linear, must be examined through regional variability and in the long-term perspective of Cypriot prehistory.10
14Within this framework, the Middle Bronze Age settlement of Erimi, in the Kouris valley, provides a key case study. Identified in 2007, the site offers a coherent sequence of domestic, productive, and funerary contexts that reveal the interconnections between social, cultural, and economic developments. Eighteen years of fieldwork by the Italian Archaeological Project at Erimi-LtP, supported by the University of Siena and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in steady collaboration with the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus, have revealed a settlement organised into distinct functional zones across limestone terraces.
15On the hilltop lays the productive Area A, a multifunctional workshop complex covering a vast area of approximately 700 sqm and primarily devoted to dyeing and textile activities. On the sloping terraces below were residential areas (Areas B, T2–T5), a massive circuit wall (Areas T1, T6 and T7), and further downslope, an extramural cemetery with two identified funerary clusters (the southern funerary cluster – Area E; and the eastern funerary cluster, located in the area of Ypsonas-Vounaros) (fig. 1).
Figure 1 — Aerial view of the Middle Bronze Age settlement and funerary areas at Erimi-LtP (Erimi Archaeological Project Archive/Archivio Missione Archeologica Italiana a Erimi, Cipro).
- 11 Scirè Calabrisotto, Fedi 2017; Fedi et al., forthcoming.
16Ceramic assemblages indicate continuous occupation throughout the Middle Bronze Age period, dominated by locally produced Red Polished wares (MCII-III), with significant imports of Drab Polished and Red Polished III types. Seventeen published radiocarbon dates, modelled through Bayesian analysis, along with seven additional isotopic dates under calibration, confirm initial occupation at the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age period and abandonment before the Late Bronze Age (LCI).11
17The clearest dimension of spatial segregation at Erimi-LtP is visible in the separation of the inhabited area from contemporary funerary clusters to the south and east. Since 2016, excavations in Area T1, T6 and T7, respectively to the south-western and northeastern areas of the site, have revealed a substantial circuit wall structure defining the limit of the settlement. The wall averages 1.7 m in width, with a cut foundation trench 0.5 m deep filled with rubble and large stone blocks. Above this, a plinth of limestone boulders and rough blocks, only partially preserved, likely supported a lighter superstructure of wood and earth, resembling a palisade (fig. 2). The excavated portion of the wall extends for more than 85 m, but it probably formed a continuous circuit enclosing the settlement. It served to separate the habitation area from the cemetery and dates to a central phase of Middle Bronze Age occupation.
Figure 2 — Erimi-LtP: the Middle Bronze Age settlement circuit wall in relation with settlement and southern funerary cluster (Area E), left. Interpretative reconstruction drawing showing the elevation of the settlement circuit wall in Area T1, right (Erimi Archaeological Project Archive/Archivio Missione Archeologica Italiana a Erimi, Cipro).
- 12 Crewe 2017; Crewe, Souter 2024, pp. 180-181.
- 13 Bombardieri 2017, pp. 350-351; Bombardieri 2023a; Monahan 2019; Monahan, Spiegelman 2019.
- 14 Bombardieri 2023a, pp. 217-218; Bombardieri, Amadio 2025.
18A comparable structure is documented at MCIII-LCIA Kissonerga-Skalia, where the massive, S-shaped Wall 67/407 has a similarly deep (0.5-0.6 m) and wide (1.6-1.7 m) foundation trench filled with rubble.12 Although large circuit walls are often associated with the Late Bronze Age urban settlements, recent studies suggest these structures emerged earlier, during the later phases of the Middle Bronze Age transitioning into the Late Bronze Age.13 At Erimi-LtP, this impressive circuit wall, in addition to fulfilling a defensive function, certainly had monumental significance and ideological value. Its construction likely demarcated the settlement from the funerary area. By conveying these multiple meanings, the settlement circuit wall likely attracted attention from a long distance and increased the visibility and prestige of the community in relation to the neighbouring centres along the Kouris Valley.14 At the same time, its construction may reflect increasing social and economic instability, marking a pivotal moment in the community’s gradual decline and in the crisis of its economic and social system.
- 15 Bombardieri, Amadio 2025.
19A series of nine shallow elliptical pits were discovered immediately outside the settlement circuit wall, roughly three meters beyond its outer limit. Arranged in a linear pattern forming two clusters of four to five pits each, these features contained either single complete vessels or small sets of ceramic vessels carefully placed at their bottoms (figs. 3-4).15 The associated locally produced or possibly imported ceramics consist mainly of fine, small- to medium-sized open forms for eating and drinking, small closed shapes for food preparation, and fine closed vessels for holding liquids. Coarse wares used for storage or production are notably absent, implying a deliberate selection of vessel types for deposition. The lack of residues, accompanying materials, or nearby working installations further indicates that these pits were not functional features.
Figure 3 — Erimi-LtP: aerial view of the Middle Bronze Age settlement circuit wall with location of the foundation deposits in Area T6 (Erimi Archaeological Project Archive/Archivio Missione Archeologica Italiana a Erimi, Cipro).
Figure 4 — Erimi-LtP: the foundation deposit Ft. T6/1 on the exterior of the settlement circuit wall (Erimi Archaeological Project Archive/Archivio Missione Archeologica Italiana a Erimi, Cipro).
20Rather, they appear to relate to episodes of wall construction and may represent foundation deposits and ritualized actions performed in conjunction with the erection of this major community structure, revealing the symbolic significance attributed to acts of building and boundary-making. The spatial arrangement of these shallow pits, forming a secondary linear boundary beyond the circuit wall, adds a further layer to the articulation of space and its meanings. Together, the physical boundary of the settlement wall and the symbolic boundary created by the foundation deposits define a liminal zone that separated, yet also conceptually connected, the sphere of the settlement from the adjacent extramural funerary area. This dual demarcation underscores the importance of segregation as a social and spatial principle, materialized through architecture and ritual practice. In doing so, the inhabitants of Erimi materially inscribed in the landscape a distinction between domains of life and death, while at the same time reaffirming the cohesion of the community through shared acts of construction and commemoration.
21A second dimension of spatial segregation is evident within the productive textile atelier itself. The workshop complex, occupying more than 700 sqm at the hilltop, was carefully organised into open-air working spaces with basins, drains, and wooden frames for dyeing and drying fabrics, and roofed areas equipped with locking systems to regulate access to materials and finished products. Terracotta spindle-whorls, clay conical loom weights, storage containers, stone mortars, grinders, small cooking pots, and clay hearths attest to a complete chaîne opératoire of textile production, from spinning and weaving to dyeing fibres and textiles.
- 16 Bombardieri, Amadio, Muti 2023.
22The workshop’s internal organisation reflects not only economic specialisation but also ideological dimensions. The integration of practical and symbolic functions suggests that textile production was embedded within a broader system of social meaning. Unit SA V and its annexes, excavated between 2018 and 2019, are particularly significant. During its final occupation phase, at the end of the Middle Bronze Age period, unit SA V contained a collapsed dressed sandstone monolith measuring 2.3 m in length. A comparable but smaller dressed stone monolith, coated with white lime plaster and red pigment (identified through SEM-EDS and FTIR analyses as red ochre), was recovered from Tomb 467 (fig. 5).16 Their non-local lithological composition indicates the deliberate selection of raw materials, possibly for symbolic or ritual purposes. The recurrence of such monoliths in both productive and funerary contexts points to shared ideological themes linking craft, ritual practice, and social identity.
Figure 5 — Erimi-LtP: monoliths from Unit SA V of the workshop shrine compound, left, and from the funerary assemblage of Tomb T467, right (Erimi Archaeological Project Archive/Archivio Missione Archeologica Italiana a Erimi, Cipro).
23In addition to the monolith, the architectural setting of unit SA V includes a large Red Polished amphora and a circular limestone fireplace positioned opposite the standing monolith, as well as a series of shallow basins arranged along the unit’s perimeter walls. Unit SA V, associated with a courtyard and four annexes, appears to have formed a coherent architectural compound with possible ritual significance.
24The internal organisation of the workshop complex at Erimi reveals more than an efficient arrangement of production areas: it embodies a deliberate structuring of social relations through space. The architectural articulation of rooms, passages, and open areas reflects a clear awareness of circulation and visibility, where movement was not casual but guided and channelled. In particular, the architectural distinction of the workshop shrine compound, while physically integrated within the wider complex, suggests the existence of a segregated yet interconnected domain, one that operated according to specific rules of access and use.
- 17 Webb et al. 2009, pp. 128-134.
- 18 Ibid., pp. 242-244.
25It is well known that no evidence of formal religious architecture exists in Cyprus prior to the emergence of urban communities in the Late Bronze Age. Consequently, the identification of ritual spaces and activities in pre-urban contexts relies primarily on two types of evidence: (1) decorated funerary shrines, and (2) terracotta models of shrines. Several tombs at Karmi, Vounous Site A, and at Lapithos display carved features within their dromoi. The most remarkable of these are those associated with Karmi-Palealona Tomb 6, where a standing anthropomorphic relief figure is flanked by two relief pilasters to the right of the chamber entrance.17 In addition, the chambers of Karmi-Palealona Tombs 2, 6, and 15A feature a shallow central buttress or rock-cut pier on the rear wall. The pier in Tomb 6 incorporates a central carved pilaster topped by a pair of horns. Similar buttressed chambers occur in tombs at Lapithos, dating mainly to the ECII period. Some of these have a horseshoe-shaped ridge extending from the base of the buttress, resembling a hearth; in others, truncated buttresses are associated with small recesses cut into the floor and rear wall that contained large jars.18
- 19 Frankel, Tamvaki 1973, p. 42; Keswani 2004; Webb et al. 2009, p. 244.
26The evidence from these funerary contexts along the north coast closely parallels that of the ritual terracotta models mentioned above. Given the presence of a tripartite façade, it seems reasonable to suggest that the carved figure in the dromos of Karmi-Palealona Tomb 6 corresponds to the female figure standing before a large jar and a similar three-part façade on two well-known terracotta models, particularly the example from Kotsiatis, or from the vicinity of Marki-Alonia.19
27Notably, several elements associated with ritual behaviour in these earlier Early Bronze Age contexts appear to have been re-interpreted at Erimi-LtP toward the end of the Middle Bronze Age. The rock-cut piers may be compared with the standing monolith, while the fireplaces and jars placed at the base of these vertical elements can likewise be understood within a similar symbolic framework.
28The workshop complex’s internal organisation reflects not only economic specialisation but also ideological dimensions. Particularly relevant to the present discussion are the aspects of segregation, inclusion, and exclusion implied by the architectural layout of the workshop shrine complex. The layout indicates a carefully designed spatial choreography, channelling movement along three narrow alleys and passages, from the east and from the west, into an open courtyard from which the major SA V unit was accessed. The combination of these features and the overall architectural setting suggest that, although access to the compound was not formally restricted, movement within it followed a predetermined and carefully orchestrated path (fig. 6).
Figure 6 — Erimi-LtP: schematic plan showing the access routes to the workshop shrine compound within the Middle Bronze Age workshop complex – Area A (Erimi Archaeological Project Archive/Archivio Missione Archeologica Italiana a Erimi, Cipro).
- 20 Lefebvre 1974; Hillier, Hanson 1984; Fisher 2009.
29Such a configuration created a subtle yet effective system of spatial control, distinguishing those who could approach or participate in activities within the workshop shrine compound from those who remained in the productive or circulation zones of the complex. This selective permeability, an architectural negotiation between openness and restriction, embodies a material expression of social segregation and ideological differentiation.20 By choreographing access and visibility, the built environment not only ordered practical functions but also structured relationships of authority, knowledge, and ritual participation. In this sense, the workshop shrine compound operated as a threshold space, mediating between economy and ideology, and thereby materialising the community’s values through the organisation of movement and the shaping of experience.
- 21 Christofi, Stefani, Bombardieri 2016.
30The third dimension of spatial segregation concerns the funerary sphere, where distinctions of gender and status might become archaeologically visible. At Erimi-LtP, an extramural cemetery extended to the east and south of the settlement. An additional funerary cluster has been identified at Ypsonas-Vounaros, thanks to salvage excavations conducted by the Department of Antiquities in 1990 and 2012.21 The funerary assemblages reveal an active engagement in interregional trade during the greater economic expansion of Erimi-LtP in the final stage of Middle Bronze Age, reflected in imported ceramics and differentiated burial deposits.
- 22 Bombardieri 2023a, pp. 217-219; Bombardieri, Amadio, forthcoming.
- 23 Scirè Calabrisotto 2017, pp. 301-305.
31Some of the excavated tombs, such as the large single chamber Tomb 248, the multi-chambered Tombs 464-467, and 682, contained particularly rich deposits, indicating emerging social differentiation.22 Bioarchaeological approaches, including palaeodietary reconstruction through stable isotope analysis and osteological examination of human skeletal remains, have so far provided valuable data for identifying markers of possible social differentiation and differential access to subsistence resources. From this perspective, palaeodietary analyses indicate a predominantly terrestrial-based diet, characterized by the consumption of C₃ plants such as cereals and pulses, along with a variable intake of animal protein derived from fauna feeding within a C₃ ecosystem. Significantly, a higher access to animal protein has been recorded so far for male individuals buried in the richest Tomb 24823.
- 24 Bombardieri 2023b.
- 25 Monaco, Koukzelas, forthcoming.
32As part of our examination of spatial dynamics and the interplay of exclusion and inclusion, intriguing evidence arises from the western residential quarter. In residential unit T3/1, two human burials were discovered, revealing an unusual case of intramural deposition (fig. 7).24 The best-preserved individual, a young woman aged 15–18, was found in a contracted position, face down near a rectangular basin. The skull showed a diamond-shaped cranial defect, possibly from a projectile or deliberate perimortem drilling, though taphonomic processes obscure certainty.25 Five small Red Polished bowls were eventually associated with the burial, two of them near the skull.
Figure 7 — Erimi-LtP: residential unit T3/1 with associated mortuary deposition (Erimi Archaeological Project Archive/Archivio Missione Archeologica Italiana a Erimi, Cipro).
- 26 Bombardieri 2023b, pp. 11-15.
33Comparable intramural burials are rare in Early to Middle Bronze Age Cypriot contexts, at sites such as Marki-Alonia, Sotira-Kaminoudia, and Alambra-Mouttes. While often considered anomalous, the evidence suggests a broader horizon of ritual and symbolic behaviour surrounding death. Statistical imbalance in the excavation record makes precise comparison difficult, yet cross-analysis indicates that a notable proportion of young women (15-35 years old at death) were buried within settlements, implying gendered dimensions of inclusion/exclusion. These practices may reflect efforts to maintain the deceased close to the living or, conversely, to isolate those perceived as socially marginal or threatening, possibly linked to notions of necrophobia.26
34Cemeteries, therefore, were not all-encompassing community landscapes. Decisions about burial location were shaped by ideas of exclusion and inclusion, of belonging and otherness. Through the Middle Bronze Age, spatial boundaries in life were mirrored by spatial boundaries in death.
35The emergence of socially differentiated spaces in Early and Middle Bronze Age Cyprus reflects a gradual, multi-scalar process rather than a sudden period of changes. Architecture and management of space functioned as instruments through which communities negotiated identity, cohesion, and hierarchy. Early bordered enclosures and intramural burials, and later circuit settlement walls and segregated compounds, all express the same underlying principle: a spatial materialisation of social distinction.
36By the end of the Middle Bronze Age, Cypriot communities had developed complex systems of controlled access and functional segregation, foreshadowing the urban landscapes of the Late Bronze Age. The roots of Cypriot urbanism, therefore, lie not only in economic transformation but also in the gradual social construction of boundaries, both physical and ideological.
37The evidence of Erimi and related contexts demonstrates how architecture, ritual, and production were interwoven in the making of prehistoric social worlds. Through its spatial design, the built environment effectively turned the community inside out, rendering visible and reinforcing the social hierarchies on which it was based. Ultimately, the Cypriot Bronze Age offers a powerful case study for understanding how social cohesion and segregation coexisted in the long process of building complex societies.
38Sincere thanks are extended to the Scientific Board of PoCA, and in particular to the organiser of the 20th PoCA meeting, Chara Theotokatou, for hosting and inspiring a successful edition at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
39The research presented here was conducted within the framework of the Erimi Italian Archaeological Project / Missione Archeologica Italiana a Erimi (Cyprus), based at the University of Siena-DFCLAM, in collaboration with the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus, Deputy Ministry of Culture.
40Particular thanks are due to the Director of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, Dr. Georgios Georgiou, and to the colleagues and staff of the Limassol and Kourion District Archaeological Museums, especially Demetra Aristotelous and Yiannis Violaris, for their kind support.
41The author gratefully acknowledges the joint contributions and open discussions shared with Mia Amadio and many other Erimi team members. The Erimi Archaeological Project acknowledges the support and positive collaboration of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Italian Embassy in Nicosia, the Kourion Municipality, and the Erimi Community Board.
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