Cyprus’ top antiquities official reported Wednesday that archaeologists had discovered a 16-foot water well more than 10,500 years old, which contained a skeleton of a young woman at the bottom.
Pavlos Flourentzos said scientists had unearthed the well last month at a construction site in the village of Kissonerga near Cyprus’ southwestern coast.
Once the well had dried up, it was seemingly used for trash, Flourentzos told the Associated Press. In addition to the poorly preserved female skeleton, the well was also found to contain worked flints, animal bone fragments, stone beads and pendants from the Mediterranean island’s early Neolithic period.
Although archaeologists don’t know the precise cause of the girl’s death, or when and why her skeleton was put in the well, the skeleton could be as old as the well itself, Flourentzos added.
Using radiocarbon dating, scientists determined that the well is between 9,000 to 10,500 years old, which coincides with the time humans began building permanent settlements on Cyprus, he said. Prior to then, temporary settlements were inhabited by sea-borne migrants that used Cyprus as a stopping point while traveling to other destinations.
The well is “among the earliest in the world,” and demonstrates the “high level of sophistication” of Cyprus’ early Neolithic farmers, said Thomas Davis, director of the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute, who was not involved in the discovery.
“The fact that they were using wells and that they tapped into the island’s water table shows heightened appreciation for the environment here,” Davis told the Associated Press.
“This was a major investment.”
The Cypriot archaeologists collaborated with Edinburgh University, which has excavated in the region for the past 30 years, unearthing settlements dating from 3800-2500 B.C. during the Chalcolithic Period.
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