The course is an introduction to the archaeology of Cyprus from the first human arrival to the island (9th millennium BCE) to the Cypro-Archaic period (6th century BCE). It highlights a variety of issues (such as the initial colonization of the island; first agricultural societies; cultural transformations in the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE; the island's urban revolution; Cyprus as a copper trade center; Greek colonization of the island; Iron Age kingdoms; Phoenicians in Cyprus, etc.) in order to emphasize the island's unique cultural development side by side of its role as cultural mediator in the eastern Mediterranean.