A MESMERIZING SIGHT

Volume 2, Issue 3

At the beginning of June we watched with admiration the two Greek pilots flying low over our roof-tops tirelessly performing the mammoth task of dowsing the raging inferno that was creeping nearer and nearer to our homes. They glided on to the sea picking up the precious water and flew gracefully like birds carrying huge quantities above our heads and miraculously saved our village houses, but sadly not the surrounding fields of produce and fruit trees. The farmers have so many problems and this must be a catastrophe for them, we can only hope they will recover quickly.

As we have a new restaurant in Maroni, we decided to make it our feature of "Village at Work" in this edition. Also there is the return of Connie's Anecdotes, another article on archaeology by Alison South and village news from our Mukhtar. We hope you enjoy reading it, sipping your chilled white wine on the patio or by your pool in the glorious sunshine.

The Youth Club will be extremely active again this year in organising the Village Festival on Sunday 30th July from 8 p.m. until the early hours in the school playground. It consists of singing, dancing, food and drink together with live entertainment, look out for the announcements locally and

PLEASE COME ALONG AND SUPPORT IT

We hope that you have all tried our new restaurant opposite St Georges Church, in Maroni, Mappouras Tavern, which Sotyris opened in the middle of May. Most of you will recall that his late father, Christakis, ran it as a coffee shop, before he sadly died in January this year. Sotyris with his expertise as a chef at the Four Seasons and Hawaii Beach Hotels in Limassol, decided thankfully that the village needed a good restaurant and we wish him every success in this venture. He has a full menu and also provides take-away meals. His father retired as the village plumber in December 1995 and on the 7th of that month, having re-built the top half of his house opened it as a coffee shop, which was very popular with the local male population, who used it as a focal point for conversation and playing cards.

Answer to May Quiz - LIFE. Unfortunately there was a problem in delivering as it was realised that Psematismenos and other villages received the May edition three days before the Maroni residents, which hopefully has now been rectified. In the circumstances two winners were declared Alan Brotton from Psematismenos and Val Elliott from Maroni.

Which of these six patterns are national flags and to which countries do they belong?

(In the absence of Roger this issue's poser has been set by the publisher)

 Dear Sir,

I write this note to you, to tell you of my plight, For at the time of writing it, I'm not a pretty sight. My body is all black and blue, my face a deathly grey, And I write this note to say, why I am not at work today. While working on the fourteenth flour, some bricks I had to clear, But tossing them down from such a height, was not a good idea. The foreman wasn't very pleased, he is an awkward sod, And he said I had to cart them down the ladders in me hod. But clearing all these bricks by hand, it was so very slow, So I hoisted up a barrel and secured a rope below. But in me haste to do the job, I was too blind to see, That a barrel full of building bricks, was heavier than me. And so when I untied the rope, the barrel fell like lead, And clinging tightly to the rope, I started up instead. I shot up like a rocket, and to my dismay I found, That half way up, I met the bloody barrel coming down. Well the barrel broke me shoulder, as to the ground it sped, And when I reached the top, I banged the pulley with me head. But I clung on tightly, numb with shock, from this almighty blow, While the barrel spilled out half its bricks, some fourteen floors below. Now when these bricks had fallen, from the barrel to the floor, I then outweighed the barrel and so started down once more. But I clung on tightly to the rope, me body racked with pain, And half way down, I met the bloody barrel once again. The force of this collision, half way down the office block, Caused multiple abrasions and a nasty case of shock. But I clung on tightly to the rope, as I fell towards the ground, And I landed on the broken bricks, the barrel scattered round. Well as I lay there on the floor, I thought I'd passed the worst, But the barrel hit the pulley wheel, and then the bottom burst. A shower of bricks rained down on me, I didn't have a hope, As I lay there bleeding on the ground, I let go the bloody rope. The barrel now being heavier, it started down once more, It landed right across me, as I lay there on the floor. It broke three ribs and my left arm, and I can only say, I hope you'll understand, why I am not at work today.

 Driving to Limassol, one cannot help noticing an unusual structure resembling a giant yellow wigwam on the right just after the Kalavasos-Zygi turn. Guesses about its purpose range from a "restaurant" to "perhaps something military". In fact it is the protective cover for the archaeological site of Kalavasos-Tenta, one of the earliest villages in Cyprus, which was recently opened to the public on 1st June 2000.

 The site was first discovered in 1940, and the great Cypriot archaeologist Porphyrios Dikaios was the first to investigate it for about a week in 1947. His excavations did not penetrate very deep, but he uncovered enough to realise that the site belonged to the same early period as nearby Khirokitia which he had also excavated.

 In 1975 Ian Todd, who was then Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology at Brandeis University near Boston (now a Maroni resident), was among a number of archaeologists who were hoping to find new fields for research in the southern parts of Cyprus, having become refugees from their excavations in the north after the Turkish invasion of 1974. After visiting the site, he decided that it would be a most suitable focus for research into the earliest periods of Cypriot prehistory. Having managed to raise money (mostly from the National Science Foundation of the USA), he excavated the site in the summers of 1976-79 and 1984, with a team of archaeologists and students from the USA, UK, Cyprus and various other countries.

 The excavations revealed a small village on top of a natural conical hillock near the Vasilikos River. In its early stages the settlement was small, with perhaps not more than 100 inhabitants, and was surrounded by a defensive wall and ditch; later it expanded to cover a larger area. As at Khirokitia (the first site of this period covered in Cyprus), the buildings are circular or oval in shape, built of stone and mud-bricks with plastered walls, doorways, small windows and cupboards. Deceased family members were buried in pits under the floors of the houses. In the middle of the village on the top of the hill was a larger building complex, also circular, which may have had a special function within the community. A unique wall-painting was found on the side of a pillar in a small house; painted in a red ochre on a white plaster ground, it shows two schematic human figures with square heads and raised arms.

 Archaeologists have called this period the Aceramic (i.e. Pre-Pottery) Neolithic as pottery-making was not yet known. Traces of basketry have been found, and other containers must have been made of wood or skins which do not survive. There was a strong tradition of making stone vessels, some with complicated relief decoration, from locally-available hard stones (e.g. diabase) and softer types (limestone, gypsum). Various stone tools were made from the local flint and chert, and axes, chisels, pestles and querns from diabase. Bone was used for needles and awls. The only material which was imported from outside Cyprus was obsidian (black volcanic glass from central Anatolia), used for small very sharp blades. A few stone figurines have been found, and various pendants, beads, rings and other decorative items were made from picrolite, an attractive soft blue-green stone which had to be obtained from the Kouris River valley many miles away.

 Many remains of animal bones were found in the excavations. The domestic animals were sheep, goats and pigs, with some evidence for cat, fox and rodents. Fallow deer (dama mesopotamica) were hunted. The Tenta people had no cattle, donkeys or horses, so all digging of their fields must have been by hand, and carrying stones and other building materials could only be done by people-power. They grew crops such as emmer and einkorn wheat, barley, and lentils and collected wild produce including figs, pistachios, grapes, olives and plums. Their diet was also supplemented by fishing.

 Sites of such early periods can only be dated by scientific techniques such as radio-carbon dating. A series of such tests on carbonized wood from Tenta showed that the site was occupied from as early as 7800 until 5400 B.C. At the time of the excavations in the late 1970's these dates caused some surprise as some of them were considered "too early" compared to what was known so far about the earliest people of Cyprus. However, in the last few years there have been many new developments in the study of this period, and it is now known (from a site at Akrotiri) that people first came to the island at least as early as 9800 B.C., coexisting with pygmy hippopotamus and elephant which were not yet extinct. There are also several other Neolithic sites with early dates (around 8500-7000 B.C.) for example at Parekklisia near Limassol and Kissonerga near Paphos. These earliest inhabitants are thought to have come from the Levantine mainland to the east, as is suggested by similarities in the stone-tool making tradition, repertoire of animals and crops, and architecture.

 Although everyone now assumes that Tenta is named for the yellow tent which covers it. This is not the case; the name is a traditional one for this small but prominent hill. There is a story that when St Helena arrived in Cyprus bringing the True Cross from Jerusalem, she landed at the mouth of the Vasilikos River (hence its name, the Royal River), and camped and pitched her tent for her first night at Tenta.

 The "giant wigwam" to protect the site was designed by French archaeologist-architect Martin Schmid and built in 1995 by Dynacon at a cost of about £C180,000, paid jointly by the Government of Cyprus and the Leventis Foundation. The wooden frame is of laminated wood from Greece, and the yellow fabric is PVC from the UK.

Kalavasos-Tenta is open Mondays to Fridays, 9.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m., admission 75c. A guidebook to the site by Ian Todd is available at £C3.00. To reach the site, head towards Limassol on the "old Limassol road" and turn right almost immediately after the bridge across the Vasilikos River; or, head towards Kalavasos village, and at the beginning of the village opposite the "King's River" Restaurant turn left (passing the Kalavasos train) and follow the tarmac road to the site.

 The telephone rang as I was in the middle of preparing a miniature Schnauzer for a show. "This is Mr. Jones, I 'ear you clip dogs ?". "Yes", I replied, "what breed is your dog?". "E's a Yorkshire Terrier". Me, "Actually, I don't clip Yorkshires. I groom them, clip nails, where necessary and clean their teeth". Mr. Jones replied "This'n will take clippin' and forget teeth, e's a bad little sod". "Ah, when would you like me to look at him and what's his name". "Benjie now, he's had four owners, and three other names, Max, Sambo and Josh and nobody's been able to do owt wi'im". I came to life after this conversation and removed the phone from shoulder-ear position and put down my thinning shears. This was interesting and sounded like a challenge. I looked in my diary. "Can you bring him Tuesday week at 9.30 a.m. ?". "Aye, right then, see you then". Having looked at my diary, I thought this would fit in nicely !. Oh silly me. Tuesday week arrived and having put Benjie into my mental "pending" tray, hadn't given the animal any further thought. Answering the door, I found a tiny little man and his rather stout wife standing there, he clutching the end of a new lead attached to a very ornate poodle type collar, beneath which the most matted hairy Yorkie was panting to get IN !. The next thing I noticed was Mr. Jones, who was, because it was summer, sporting a short-sleeved shirt. His hands and arms were covered in Elastoplast dressings (Eighteen he informed me). "Whatever have you been doing - roses bite back did they ?. "No" he said, "Benjie done it - every time 'e gets on me knee and I'm watching telly and forget and I stroke 'im 'e bites me". Mrs. Jones spoke up "'e should be put down 'e's a devil. I 'ave a Bed & Breakfast place and one of these days" - casting a withering look upon her better half - "e'll get out of the kitchen and 'e'll get a guest". A quite bitter altercation then developed between this strange couple, so I thought it expedient to just grab the lead and close the door, leaving Mr. and Mrs. Jones to it. It took only seconds to realise I should have left Benjie on the other side of the door with them, pleading a headache impending influenza. Insanity, anything ! Remember these dogs are perfect rat killing machines - I had one of my own, smaller than Benjie and I've seen her at work. This one was obviously intent on sinking his teeth into me. I called my husband, who has always doubted my sanity when it comes to animals, for assistance, to get this snarling, snappy bundle of fury on to my table. Benjie really meant business. It took gardening gloves for both of us and a deal of courage, but we managed it. Before I could get the stay strap on, he was off again, threw a towel over him after a lengthy chase round my dog room. Gasping I said "Right - I'm going to do something I've never done before". My friend at the end of the road had a pet shop, so off I went to see if she had a very small size muzzle - she did - cost me £8 - she gloatingly remarked "Never thought you'd ever buy one of those". Back home (husband standing there wondering why he'd ever got involved), I showed Benjie the muzzle and as he'd never seen anything like it, it was comparatively simple to pop it on. "Let battle commence" said I . "Do you think perhaps a cup of tea first ?" For once I refused the offer. It was a four hands job. The whole matted mess had to be removed, right down the canvas, almost bleeding. The face had to be done through the straps of the muzzle and really not trusting it to hold, never having had to use one, appeared to be fraught with danger. What if it comes off ? or snaps under the constant assault of teeth and claws ?. It held praise be. By then we all needed a shower - Benjie got it, still muzzled, and not in the least cowed. He got more and more frenzied despite the two of us trying to calm him down and being as gentle as possible. He hated every minute, clipping, bathing, drying, there was no way of soothing him. A quick hand between his back legs encountered an empty space, so no chance of calming him down there ! We managed to get him dried and finished and his collar and lead back on and tied to the front door handle. Mr. Jones came for him two hours later and I was very pleased to see him. "£10 I charged ? !!. Can you believe I took him on twice a year, for four years after that ?. I was so sorry for this poor deranged creature, and we managed it, didn't we ?. The last time I groomed him, I got a nail caught in the muzzle and off it came. My nail, the whole thing - not the muzzle. When Mr. and Mrs. came that time to pick Benjie up, I had my arm in a sling and had to say (orders from better half) that I couldn't do him again. Mrs. made up her mind. "You can keep 'im 'til 'e's a mess again and that's it". Sadly only one month later I met the couple in the town with a very happy mongrel tail wagger. Benjie the demon from hell had fulfilled Mrs. Jones prognosis and bitten a B. & B. guest and was destroyed the same day.

  Poor little Max, Sambo, Josh and finally Benjie, several sandwiches short of a picnic. The only case I ever had of a bad dog. Not the owner, Mr. Jones, had the patience of a saint with him - so did we, but despite all the kindness and patience bestowed on him, he was a doggy mental case.

And the Lord spoke to Noah and said "In one year, I am going to make it rain and cover the whole earth with water until all flesh is destroyed. But I want you to save the righteous people and two of every kind of living thing on earth. Therefore I am commanding you to build an Ark".

In a flash of lightning, God delivered the specifications for an Ark. In fear and trembling, Noah took the plans and agreed to build the Ark. "Remember", said the Lord, "You must complete the Ark and bring everything aboard in one year". Exactly one year later, the fierce storm clouds covered the earth and all the seas of the earth went into a tumult. The Lord saw that Noah was sitting in his front yard weeping. "Noah", he shouted, "Where is the Ark ?". "Lord, please forgive me", cried Noah, "I did my best, but there were big problems".

"First, I had to get a permit for construction, and your plans did not meet the codes. I had to hire an engineering firm and redraw the plans. Then I got into a fight with OH&S over whether or not the Ark needed a sprinkler system and approved floatation devices. Then, my neighbour objected, claiming I was violating zoning ordinances by building the Ark in my front yard, so I had to get a variance from the City Planning Commission. Then I had problems getting enough wood for the Ark, because there was a ban on cutting trees to protect the Spotted Owl. I finally convinced the Forest and Lands commission that I really needed the wood to save the owls. However, the Fish and Wildlife Service won't let me catch any owls. So, no owls.

The carpenters belonged to a union and went on strike. I had to negotiate a settlement with the ACTU before anyone would pick up a saw or hammer. Now I have 16 carpenters on the Ark, but still no owls.

When I started rounding up the other animals, an animals rights group sued me, objecting to my taking only two of each kind aboard. Just when I got the suit dismissed, the EPA notified me that I could not complete the Ark without filing an Environmental Impact Statement on your proposed flood. They didn't take very kindly to the idea that they had no jurisdiction over the conduct of the Creator of the Universe. Then the Army Engineers demanded a map of the proposed new flood plain. I sent them a globe.

Right now, I am trying to resolve a complaint filed with the Equal Opportunity Commission that I am practising discrimination by not taking godless, unbelieving people aboard. The ATO has seized my assets, claiming that I'm building the Ark in preparation to flee the country to avoid paying taxes. I just got a notice from the State that I owe them some kind of User Tax and that I failed to register the Ark as a "Recreational Water Craft".

Finally, the ACTU got the courts to issue an injunction against further construction of the Ark, saying that since God is flooding the earth, it's a religious event, and, therefore, unconstitutional. I really don't think I can finish the Ark for another five or six years."

Noah waited.

The sky began to clear, the sun began to shine, and the seas began to calm. A rainbow arched across the sky. Noah looked up hopefully and asked, "You mean you're not going to destroy the earth, Lord ?"

"No", He said sadly, "I don't have to. The Government already has."

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