Ancient Bones and Modern Myths: Ninth Millennium BC Hippopotamus Hunters at Akrotiri Aetokremmos, Cyprus?

Abstract

Recent excavations at Akrotiri Aetokremmos, Cyprus, stirred up great excitement among students of Mediterranean Archaeology and palaeozoology, since they were presented as revealing for the first time on the island a large deposit of Pleistocene fauna - mainly pygmy hippopotamus - in association in artifactual material. It was further claimed that humans may have been responsible for the extinction of some of the endemic Cypriot fauna. A re-examination of the data from the site questions the existence of the ninth millennium BC hippopotamus hunters on Cyprus and addresses the more general issues of how archaeologists observe the archaeological record, give meaning to it, and reconstruct the human past.