6 - Gypsum, Copper, Soil

Summary

This chapter adopts a more granular view to examine three places within the Vasilikos and Maroni region that illustrate the complexities of emergent rural landscapes. Three vignettes center on assemblages of environmental materials, site-level processes, and land use practices, from the copper mines and gypsum outcrops of the Vasilikos Valley to the littoral soils of the Maroni watershed.These landscapes mediated the shifting society-environment interactions taking shape alongside the associated growth of rural networks and the town of Amathus. The chapter presents the methodological integration of survey data, excavated materials, paleoenvironmental data, and geoarchaeological analyses that build a holistic picture of emerging vernacular landscapes and their historically contingent ambiguities and complexities.