(See Map at p. 24)

In this and the following chapter, in which such terms as Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Copper and Bronze Ages are employed, it is necessary to explain that they must not be taken in the precise and exclusive sense in which they used to be understood, as representing, that is to say, a regular chronological succession. Recent excavation has brought to light irregularity and overlap in these phases of culture. For instance, bronze has not yet been found in Babylonia in late Sumerian sites, although it was used for a time in the early Sumerian period. No copper has been found on such a site as the early settlement at Samarra, although the pottery there is partially, if not wholly, contemporary with that from Tell Halaf, which is associated with copper tools. Polished stone axes are commonly found in Syria associated with metal, and may be actually connected with metal types. We shall see that the “Neolithic” sites in Cyprus do not conform to a rigid typological scheme.

The existence of a Stone Age in the island was unsuspected until quite recently, and only a few sites have been properly excavated. Nevertheless, more than thirty sites can, on the evidence of surface finds or trial excavations, be attributed to the Neolithic or Chalcolithic periods.