Lempa, Cyprus

5 mi) north of the town of Paphos. It is sometimes written as Lemba, which is also closer to the correct pronunciation. Neighbouring villages are Empa, Kissonerga and Chloraka. The village is located on top of an escarpment overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, and is in one of the most fertile parts of Cyprus. The area produces citrus, olives, tomatoes and market-garden vegetables, and is one of the few parts of Europe where commercial banana production is possible.

The village is one of the most ancient in Cyprus, and since 1976 has been the site of ongoing archaeological excavations by the School of Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh. Lempa is believed to have been first settled in the Chalcolithic period (c. 3800 – c. 2500 BC), and a number of cruciform female figurines, carved in stone, from this period have been found. In 1982, the Lemba Experimental Village was established as an archaeological project to recreate a Chalcolithic village and use it to undertake a number of historic activities, including use of building materials, pyrotechnology, pottery firing and prehistoric cooking...