Investigating monumental social space in Late Bronze Age Cyprus: An integrative approach

Abstract

The Late Bronze Age on Cyprus (c. 1650-1100 BCE) saw the appearance of monumental buildings that came to play an important role in changing patterns of social interaction and reproduction. Although these buildings often shared similarities in overall plan and the use of common design elements, I argue that the process of placemaking resulted in considerable variation in both their spatial configuration and the design of contexts for particular social interactions. Through its design and use in daily practice and social occasions, each monumental building developed its own biography and sense of place, ensuring that the experiences of its occupants and visitors were, in many ways, unique. I investigate this through a comparative study of two court-centred buildings, Building X from Kalavasos-Ayios Dhimitrios and Building II from Alassa-Paliotaverna. I apply an integrative approach that acknowledges the agency of both builder and building, combining access analysis with an examination of how built environments encode and nonverbally communicate meanings to those who used them.