Book – Books – Books on Cyprus

It is important to know the past in order to understand the present times

By Heidi Trautmann

A very special book for people who are interested in the Akdeniz Area is Erol Akcan’s book with collections of photographs of old family clans having lived in the area. The text is in Turkish only. One part of the book contains architectural findings, for example the sanctuary of Agia Irini where in 1929 Swedish archaeologists found many clay figurines which today are displayed in the Archaelogical Museum in Nicosia South. The site is rather secluded although to the north of the site there is evidence for the existence of a small settlement and burials, some dated to the Cypro-Geometric period.

On the way to the Akdeniz Beach we often walked there through the bushland on the lookout for other burial places. I love the area because it holds a very special atmosphere for me, the low trees bent from the wind, the red soil and the lush green where houses and farms are. I just wonder what had made the early folks in the bronze age and before to live there, or was it just a burial place? They also found fossils of prehistoric animals, such as small elephants. Very interesting.

Erol Akcan has been a prolific collector of photos and information and I am sure that some or other scientific researcher and or archaeologist will find the book very useful. Erol Akcan was born in a village near Paphos.

His book may be found at bookstores in North Cyprus.