Agro-pastoralist colonization of Cyprus in the 10th millennium BP: Initialassessments

Unexpectedly early evidence for the precocious spread of farming has recent ly emerged in Cyprus. It is argued that the transmission occurred as a resu lt of migration related to ecosystem stress in the Levant. So strong are th e connections of the colonists with the mainland that we suggest the term C ypro-Pre-Pottery Neolithic B to describe what has hitherto been a major lac una in Cypriot prehistory. Consistent dates from key sites and the evolutio n of material culture indicate that this Cypro-PPNB sequence represents the hitherto elusive ancestry for the Khirokitian.