Tsoungiza ("JOON-geets-ah") is an archaeological site just across the valley from Ayia Sotira.  Mary and Jim, our directors, worked on digging this site in the 1980s. 

Tsoungiza was the small village (archaeologists call that a "settlement") where the people buried at Ayia Sotira probably lived.  The site is on top of a small hill, and you can look directly at the tombs we dug from there. 

Mary, Jim, and their team excavated houses at Tsoungiza.  The houses usually had a main rectangular room with a hearth (a fire pit) and then other smaller rooms branching off of the main room.  Here is a picture of Jim showing us the walls of one of the houses:

Mary and Jim also told us that they learned a lot from digging up the garbage pits near these houses.  In the pits they found many animal bones, as well as clay pots for eating, drinking, and cooking. 

It was really neat to imagine the place where the people buried at Ayia Sotira might have lived over 3,000 years ago!