Sotira () is a village located partly in the Limassol District of

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

, and partly in the

British Overseas Territory The British Overseas Territories (BOTs) or alternatively referred to as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs) are the fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom that, ...

Akrotiri and Dhekelia Akrotiri and Dhekelia (), officially the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (SBA), is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory made of two non-contiguous areas on the island of Geography of Cyprus, Cyprus. The area ...

, west of

Limassol Limassol, also known as Lemesos, is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the Limassol district. Limassol is the second-largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population of 195,139 and a district population o ...

, near Episkopi.

Sotira Culture

Sotira Culture (Ceramic Neolithic Period) 5000 - 4000 BCE filled the gap left by the abandonment of Khirokitia Culture sites. The culture appears to have formed about two centuries after the first influx of pottery on the island, brought in by a new wave of settlers who arrived around 5250 BC. Some sources place the rise of the Sotira at a later date, around 4500 BC, but most seem to agree that there was a gap of about five hundred years between the fall of the Khirokitia and the very first appearance of the Sotira. Despite evidence of settlers who brought new technologies and techniques with them, there is no evidence of any external trade. Social stratification is also difficult to ascertain during this comparatively short-lived period. The culture gained its name through the examination of a typical site at Sotira-Teppes. At the Sotíra Neolithic settlement lies a tightly packed group of house foundations of light construction. In form they ranged from circular to rectangular with rounded angles, the upper parts of the walls were evidently of mud brick and the roofs of the rectangular houses probably flat. The topmost floors overlay a demolition layer which sealed well-preserved hearths, post-holes, and other features. These lower floors yielded an unusually rich series of implements, of flint, stone and bone, as well as bowls and jugs of the combed ware. Like most Ceramic

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

sites, this was located near the coast, on high ground which was easily defendable. Another key site is at Ayios Epiktitos-Vyrsi. Ceramic sites are only found on the east of the island, showing that these newcomers did not reach either the west or the

Karpass Peninsula The Karpas Peninsula (; ), also known as the Karpass, Karpaz or Karpasia, is a long, finger-like peninsula that is one of the most prominent geographical features of the island of Cyprus. Its farthest extent is Cape Apostolos Andreas, and its m ...

(the long 'finger' at the north-eastern corner of Cyprus). There were regional differences, and technical improvements as the culture progressed. Of the thirty villages known to have been home to the culture, only a few were still inhabited in the next period but, as with the Khirokitia before it, why the majority of Sotira sites were abandoned is not known.

References

Communities in Limassol District {{cyprus-geo-stub