The aim of this paper was to study fourteen pottery sherds found at the site of Ayia Irini in northern Cyprus using Gas chromatography- Mass spectrometry. Ayia Irini has by the archaeologists of the Swedish Cyprus Expedition been interpreted as a sanctuary, with activity spanning from the Late Bronze Age throughout the Cypriot Iron Age. The results showed traces of vegetable lipids in almost all samples, and traces of lipids from terrestrial animals in all but two. One sample showed traces of resin. Several samples were contaminated by different components found in plastics, such as plasticizers. No obvious common denominators were found for samples of similar pottery type or similar dating. The analysis yielded results of differing quality in all samples. However, usable data was collected from all except one sample, which was too heavily contaminated to glean any clear traces of organic residue from the time of deposit.

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