LIME PLASTER USE AT LATE BRONZE AGE KALAVASOS-AYIOS DHIMITRIOS (CYPRUS): EVIDENCE FOR APPLICATION-SPECIFIC RECIPES AND THE CREATION OF SOCIAL SPACE

Abstract

Kalavasos-Ayios Dhimitrios (K-AD; Figure 1) is a Late Bronze Age (LBA) settlement on Cyprus. It is notable for having among the earliest examples of urbanism and monumental architecture on the island along side the sites of, for example, Kition, Alassa, Enkomi, and Maroni (Philokyprou 2011; Fisher et al. in press). The LBA on Cyprus marked the beginning of urban society, economy and architecture in Cyprus (Fisher et al. in press). This study explores the social processes associated with the transition to urbanism represented by the entangled relationship between the architectural creation of social spaces and the use of these spaces as platforms for the creation and negotiation of power and influence (Fisher 2009a, 2009b; Fisher et al. in press). Specifically this study will concentrate on the construction of plaster surfaces, the immobile architecture of these social spaces, as indexes of the social development at K-AD during the LBA. Analysis of pyrogenic lime and gypsum plasters was carried out using high-resolution microscopic methods based on the integration of petrography and soil micromorphology. These techniques are employed to optically examine in-situ and oriented plaster samples in laboratory thin section. Laboratory Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis was applied to loose sediments to obtain spectroscopic data when necessary. Following the findings that lime plaster recipe variation is the result of human choice (Kingery et al. 1988; Love 2011, 2013a) the results of this analysis shows that the LBA architects at K-AD produced different recipes for different utilitarian uses and also that the construction of elite spaces demanded complex recipes that extend beyond utilitarian requirements, which can be classified as more “expensive,” resource-draining procedures (Kingery et al. 1988; Love 2011). Plaster is used at K-AD for both functional purposes and as an active component in societal creation and transformation.