Trade and exchange in the Neolithic Near East: Implications of obsidian remains from Ais Yiorkis, Cyprus

Lithic material has proven to be the most prevalent artifact to come out of the Ais Yiorkis strata, but there is also a plentitude of other artifacts, such as fauna, seeds, and the more elusive obsidian bladelets. There are currently about 42 obsidian artifacts (both fragmented and complete) in the Ais Yiorkis collection, and curiously enough, they are all in bladelet form, suggesting these artifacts were traded in from elsewhere due to the lack of obsidian debitage at the site. This obsidian has been sourced to the Chiftlik region in Anatolia (Turkey), which suggests some degree of trade within the broader Mediterranean world (Simmons 2003). Little has been done analytically on the obsidian artifacts from Ais Yiorkis, so I plan on delving further into the possible trade that was occurring during the Neolithic Period in Cyprus and the surrounding Mediterranean region and what this meant for the small hamlet that was Ais Yiorkis. Since the whole of the obsidian artifacts that have come out of the Ais Yiorkis context are in bladelet form, I believe that the transportation of these artifacts from Anatolia to Cyprus may have been the result of one single trade event. Possible questions include: Who was involved in this trading event? How did these artifacts make there way to Cyprus? What were the people of Ais Yiorkis trading in return for these obsidian bladelets? What were these obsidian bladelets being used for? Who was using them? What did this trade event mean for Ais Yiorkis in the broad spectrum of the entire Mediterranean world