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Vrysi, North Cyprus In History

A few miles east of Girne in North too apt to break. But we farmed, we lived
Cyprus, on the seashore, lies the a settled life, and we made pots. We
Neolithic site of Vrysi. Archaeologists could store food safely. We had no
have examined a small part of the site, starving time.
and left some of the house walls exposed. "We lived here by the sea, but the spring
The sea has undercut the promontory on where we draw water is some ways away.
which the village stood, and the whole Without pots, we would need to carry
area will fall into the sea before long. water little by little in skin bags. Have
Visitors may look at the site and walk you ever tasted water from a skin bag
around its edges, but may not enter it, after a day in the hot sun? Ah, then you
lest they disturb this fragile place. If can appreciate a pottery water jug.
you have seen the artifacts from the site "You can see how important pottery was to
at the museum in Girne Castle, you can us by this fact: the archaeologists who
imagine them in use, here where they were excavated here found sixty-two thousand
found. Your guide is a woman who lived sherds of pottery and only one thousand
here and raised her family some seven other artifacts of all kinds.
thousand years ago, when the village was "We made pottery ourselves, each family
already very old. having its own designs. You can see the
"Welcome to our village, strangers. grace and boldness of those designs in
Please look, but do not touch. My people the museum. Our pottery was white and we
have lived here for over a thousand painted it in dark red or in brown. We
years, and our honored dead are buried had no pottery wheel, but shaped each
beneath these stones. piece by hand and fired it in small
"Imagine this place ringing with the ovens.
laughter of children, busy with the "The designs on our pots came with our
sounds we made grinding grain, flaking ancestors when they left Mersin in Turkey
stone tools, chopping wood. We were a to make a brave voyage across the sea to
happy people, able to raise or find North Cyprus. At first they were afraid,
plenty of food, and able to store it those pioneers. Their houses were half
against the dry years and the bad crops. underground, and they built a ditch as a
"Though we lived by the sea, we did not defense against attack on this precious
fish much. We had our goats and sheep and property. But, little by little, we
pigs, and the men hunted in the great learned we had nothing to fear.
forests. The trees provided us with "Our ancestors here at Vrysi lived in
carobs, figs, lemons, and olives. We flimsy houses when they first arrived.
raised wheat and barley, lentils, even But ours, as you can see, were sturdily
grapes for wine. We could keep pet dogs built. We had paved walkways between our
and cats, because we always had enough to homes so we did not have too much mud
eat. tracked in.
"We used stone sickles, axes, knives, "We liked rectangular houses, but
spindle weights, and chisels. We carved sometimes the lay of the land forced an
fishhooks and needles from bone. irregular shape. We rounded the corners,
"You can see just six of our North Cyprus so they were easy to keep clean, and we
houses. We had about twenty houses in my had lovely walls plastered with clay. We
day. They were grouped in clusters since covered our floors with woven mats.
several extended families lived in our Wooden pillars supported our high
village. We stayed here all year long, thatched roofs.
generation upon generation. Before our "We built stone benches along the walls
ancestors learned to farm, only small of our houses and had storage bins made
groups of people could stay together all of stone slabs. A large hearth was the
year. In those olden days, the people center of each house. At night, our
would come together for festivals and to one-room homes were cozy with the
arrange marriages, then scatter to firelight and with the glow of oil
harvest whatever the wild world provided. burning in stone lamps. We made small
Late winter and spring were always stone figurines which were honored in our
starving times, when grandparents died homes, but that is a religious matter,
and too often the little children died as which we do not discuss with strangers.
well. "My people lived here for over a hundred
"In those days before farming, it was generations, until an earthquake made the
difficult to preserve food for the place unsafe and we moved away. For five
winter. Our ancestors dug pits in the thousand years since then, the sea has
ground and lined them with hides, but undercut our promontory. In the
mice and other vermin always found their not-too-distant future, the sea will
way into the cache. Of course people have swallow the whole village. Then all that
known that some kinds of mud harden in will remain to recall our lives will be
fire ever since the first child tried to the pottery sherds and bone needles and
bake a mud pie. Pottery was simply no use stone spindle whorls in the museum at
to our wandering ancestors-too heavy and Girne, North Cyprus.




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