Choirokitia Neolithic Settlement

Situated about 35 kilometers from Larnaka off the Larnaka – Limassol highway (tel. 24322710), it is included in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage official list. It is a Neolithic settlement found in a better stage of preservation than most others from this period (7.000B. C.), not only in Cyprus, but in the whole of Eastern Mediterranean.
 
It presents through its consecutive phases of building the whole history of Neolithic period in Cyprus and divulges precious information as to the spread of the Neolithic culture throughout the region. Five dwellings in close proximity have been reconstructed following the Neolithic model, using the same methods and traditional materials and have been furnished with copies of objects actually found inside the houses during excavations, in order to give a better impression of the layout of the village as it was in its time.

In addition the plant life around these huts represents plants that were cultivated or indigenous trees that grow in Cyprus since Neolithic times. 


Kalavasos- Tenta Neolithic Settlement

Tenta, one of the most important Neolithic settlements in Cyprus of the 7.000 BC lies near the village of Kalavasos, about 40 kilometers from Larnaka, 2.5 kilometers off the Larnaka – Limassol highway.


Venetian Network of Watchtowers 

The multistoried stone built towers of an early warning system against naval attacks, inspired and implemented by the Venetians (1489-1571), survive in 4 villages of the Larnaka District. It is composed of 4 elegant medieval watchtowers covering the whole of Larnaka Bay. Historians believe that the system continued to Famagusta and perhaps the whole of Cyprus, especially with the help of the castles on the Pentadaktylos range.

The first watchtower of the Larnaka network is at Alaminos village. The next, which is nicely preserved and especially elegant, survives 20 meters from the beach of Pervolia and Kiti villages, 2 kilometers from Cape Kiti lighthouse. The system of Venetian watchtowers continues with a similar Tower at Pyla village in the center of the Larnaka bay and with one at Xylophagou Village at the east end of the Bay, surviving in a worse shape than the Kiti and Alaminos towers. The Pyla watchtower is in the village center near the church of the Archangels.

The duty of a watchtower’s small guard was to observe the enemy naval movements in the Larnaka bay and warn the population and the army in the south coasts with fire and smoke signals and alarm in case of pirate or enemy invasions, but especially to expect the final Ottoman assault for which the Venetians were preparing deffence for many years, as Cyprus was their easternmost stronghold in this Ottoman Eastern-Mediterranean of the time.


 Idalion City-kingdom

This Cypriot City Kingdom flourished between the 8th and the 5th century B.C.

The archaeological site is at modern Dali village, only 19 Kilometers north of Larnaka on the Larnaka –Nicosia highway. The archaeological site has a great temple of Aphrodite situated on top of the eastern acropolis, which is not presently accessible, but it is famous for the discovery of the “Idalion Script”, which is a legal document of the 5th century B.C. between the Demos of the City on the one hand and a city medical doctor on the other, made to secure the medical services of the doctor when Idalion was besieged by the armies of Kition at the beginning of the 5th century B.C.

This “Script” was in two languages, Phoenician and cypro-syllabic and its discovery in the 1930’s made possible the translation of the Greek written in the cypro-syllabic signs. The armies of the Kingdom of Kition (Larnaka) won this battle and the crown of Idalion Kingdom decorated for 2 centuries the heads of the Kition (Larnaka) Kings.


Tamassos City Kingdom

At present day Politiko village, the Tamassos Kingdom area lies about 25 kilometers from Larnaka on the direction from Larnaka to Tseri – Politiko. This kingdom flourished between the 8th and 4th centuries B.C. and it is situated in a center of a rich copper producing area, one of the most valuable Cyprus products of antiquity.

At the 4th century its last King sells his kingdom to the King of Kition (Larnaka) and for almost a century the Kition dynasty is the ruler of three Cypriot crowns, Kition, Idalion and Tamassos. The archaeological site can be visited on a daily basis and it is known for its Royal Tombs. The remains of a sanctuary of the Cypriot Aphrodite may be seen. The sanctuary is next to an industrial area where copper was melted and moulded.