In recent months we’ve looked at Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites from Turkey down to Southern Jordan, but one thing we really wanted to learn about is Cyprus, an island very much part of this region, close to Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan and Palestine, all of which were home to early permanent settlements during and after the Younger Dryas.

We know from the fish remains discovered at Atlit Yam, a now-submerged Pre-Pottery Neolithic site off the coast of Israel, that the ancient people did have boats. So, between 10 and 12,000 years ago, when sea levels were much lower, we have no doubt that Cyprus could have been reached.

With that in mind, we’ve been looking into the prehistory of this island and we have to say we weren’t disappointed with what we learned and in this video we’ll give you a brief overview.

Cyprus has a long and interesting history, with human populations landing on the island in at least three waves - in the Epipalaeolithic, the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B. Watch this video to learn more about the ancient seafarers of Cyprus.