CANBERRA, May 17 (Xinhua) -- People settled on Cyprus thousands of years earlier than previously thought, Australian research has found.
In a study published on Friday, a team from Flinders University in South Australia discovered that the first human occupation of Cyprus occurred during the Pleistocene Epoch up to 14,257 years ago -- thousands of years earlier than previously accepted.
The Pleistocene was an epoch that lasted for over 2 million years to approximately 11,700 years ago.
Corey Bradshaw, lead author of the study from the College of Science and Engineering at Flinders University, said in a media release that the findings refute previous studies that suggested Mediterranean islands were unreachable and inhospitable for Pleistocene hunter-gatherer societies.
"This settlement pattern implies organized planning and the use of advanced watercraft," he said.
According to the new research, Cyprus was settled rapidly after the first arrival of human hunter-gatherers -- a process which involved two to three large organized migration events to the Mediterranean island.
The study estimated that within 300 years, or 11 generations, of the first human arrival, the population of Cyprus grew to 4,000-5,000.
The research was based on archaeological dating from the 10 oldest sites across Cyprus, demographic modeling and climate estimates.
Climate modeling indicated that the earlier arrival of people coincided with increases in temperature, precipitation and environmental productivity sufficient to sustain large hunter-gatherer populations on the island. ■
