4.20 Koutraphas: Medieval-Modern

Evidence of activity in the east of the Koutraphas area reappears during the Medieval-Modern periods, but the densities of pottery are too low for it to represent the remains of settlement. It is probably part of the halo around the nearby villages: Potami in the east, and Kato and Pano Koutraphas in the west. The densities, however, are very low, which suggest that manuring was not a common practice on these fields. Perhaps the manure was spread elsewhere, or burned as domestic fuel.

Despite the low levels of pottery there is evidence that some manuring took place. Seven dhoukani (threshing sledge) flakes were found in the Koutraphas area. This is not surprising in a landscape that is still dominated by agriculture, but none of the flakes were found close to the villages, the normal place for threshing floors. The flakes may have been deposited in the fields having been swept up with the detritus remaining on the floors after threshing and winnowing. There was one interesting peak of Medieval-Modern pottery in the west of the zone, which coincided with the peak of Hellenistic-Roman material at Katalasharis (TP256). If there was a seasonal structure here during the earlier period, perhaps it continued in use, or was reused during the Medieval-Modern periods. If so, it may have been the larger and more permanent of the two putative Hellenistic-Roman farmsteads. A small concentration of very fine 13th- and 14th-century Cypriot sgraffito was recorded In the north-western corner of the area. Kato Koutraphas was an estate in the 16th century (Aristeidou 1994, 145; Bustron 1884, 418; Grivaud 1998, 370). However, the village church of Panayia Chryseleousa (TP244) had no clearly medieval features, despite containing fragments of marble that were obviously recycled. There was no sgraffito pottery in its vicinity. Since there was no continuous halo from the village to the sgraffito in the north-west of the zone, this transect may have touched the edge of another estate, or of a centre associated with Kato Koutraphas.