Includes summary in English language (p. 91).

Includes bibliographical references (p. 99-101).

The economy of the traditional Mediterranean Fishing Village (MFV) is defined as one based on both agro-pastoral and marine exploitation. This subsistence base first developed on the Levantine coast in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic C period (the end of the 9th and first half the 8th millennium BP uncalibrated), as documented at the site of Atlit-Yam, Israel. Likewise, on Cyprus, an integrated terrestrial-marine economy appears only some 1000 years after the initial establishment of settlements on the island. The absence of large-scale fishing in the earliest sites on the island is paradoxical as to reach Cyprus requires well developed maritime skills, characteristic of fishing communities. In addition, on Cyprus, excavated water-wells pre-date the earliest ones documented on the mainland and the possibility that this technology could have been first developed on the island is discussed. The possible causes for the late appearance of the MFV on both the Levantine coast and Cyprus are also discussed. One of the explanations offered is that in both cases, fishing was a low preference mode of production, to which Neolithic communities turned only once the quantity and / or quality of terrestrial resources were reduce of impaired.