Constructing Sotira. Discard and deposition at a Neolithic village in Cyprus

A greater understanding of all the factors affecting site formation and the contexts of artefact deposition and discard allow a reconsideration of older excavations and potentials for developing new interpretations. In this paper I will use frameworks of this kind to look anew at the Neolithic settlement of Sotira Teppes in Cyprus, a site that was extensively excavated and published by Porphyrios Dikaios over 60 years ago. The quality of his work has encouraged several earlier re-analyses of its structure and history. Here I will attempt another, paying particular attention to the contexts of deposition defined by the excavator. This approach, applied to selected subsets of the assemblages, allows alternative patterns to emerge. These allow different insights and explanations for aspects of the site and its history.