Off Cyprus Coast, Archaeologists Find 10,000-Year-Old Tools

AKAMAS, Cyprus — Archaeologists excavating the seabed off Cyprus have discovered the tools of ancient mariners, which they believe were used by foragers more than 10,000 years ago — before the island had permanent settlements.

Earlier this month, divers located the pre-Neolithic finds — chipped stone tools and ground stone implements — in several areas off the western coast, near Aspros, an archaeological site discovered in 2004. The most significant finds were located in water about 33 feet deep and about 330 feet offshore.

"These are the people who are the pioneers; without their knowledge, people who came later maybe would not have had it that good," , the survey's director, Colgate University's Albert Ammerman, said.

The archaeologists believe that tools found at the two sites were used by seafaring foragers who frequented the island well over 10,000 years ago — before the first permanent settlers arrived around 8,200 before the common era. They are thought to have sailed from present-day Syria and Turkey, at least 46 miles north and east of the island.