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Cyprus:
Archaeological Adventures on Aphrodite's Isle
By Janie
Ravenshurst
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August 2006
'Where
is the home for me?
Oh, Cyprus
set in the sea?
Aphrodite’s
home, in the soft sea-foam,
Would I could
wend to thee'
Euripides:
Dionysus
Cyprus conjures
thoughts of holidays, sunshine, a magical island ringed by sparkling blue
seas. Or the name might bring to mind an image of Aphrodite, the
Greek Goddess of Love, emerging from the foam, for this is her ancient
birthplace. It is also a timelessly enduring land where intrepid
groups of explorers - archaeologists, search for evidence, possibly as
much as 11,000 years old, which will construct stories of lives long past
and help unravel the mysteries of ancient civilizations.
Cyprus has
a rich archaeological history and archaeologists from all over the rest
of the world visit the island throughout the year, mostly from May to Sept.
The professors apply for permits and hire their crews to survey, excavate,
catalogue, illustrate and analyze the artifacts found. Artifacts are objects
which have been created and utilized by human beings in the past, and found
by archaeologists. We spend the project season living in villages
such as Kouklia, Athienou, Kourion, Polis, Paphos, Kalavassos and Lemba.
I have returned
to Cyprus this time with a group of archaeologists, to excavate a site
near the village of Ahtienou, situated in south-central Cyprus. The
Athienou Archaeological Project (AAP) is a multidisciplinary project focusing
on the site of Athienou-Malloura and the surrounding valley. This
site was settled for nearly 2500 years and encompasses the Archaic, Classical,
Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Frankish, Venetian, and Ottoman periods
in the island's history. Due to its long occupation coupled
with the variety of the archaeological remains found-religious, domestic,
funerary - the site remains an ideal training ground for archaelogical
students.
Most of the
students are working for credit towards their studies and have to pay to
take part in an excavation, and novices would have to pay too. Some
of the crew leaders are graduates who may only have to pay a small portion
of expenses - accommodation and flight etc. - whereas others may be there
for free. On my first project I had to pay for half of my flight,
but my following trips, ten summers in all (1 - 3 months at a time) I was
there as a specialist and therefore did not need to pay any of my costs
other than personal expenses.
Upon landing
at Pafos airport, on the south west tip of the island, we climb down the
airplane steps, sniff the jasmine-filled breeze, taste the salt air on
our lips, and restrain with difficulty, the urge to kiss the earth.
We are home.
In previous
years we worked in Kouklia, a small village in the hills not far from Pafos
airport but this time, our destination means a scary taxi ride in a stretched
Mercedes, preferred vehicle of the Cypriot taxi driver. The village
folk and business people crammed into the seats beside us don’t seem to
worry as we hurtle at breakneck speeds around winding coastal roads.
Small country villages, live groves, vineyards, wheat fields and cash crops
of bananas, melons and peanuts, all zip past us in a blur. Petra
tou Romiou, where Aphrodite rose from the waves is a breathtaking flash
of azure sea and white rocks. As the treacherous cliffs on our right
cascade down into the deepest blue of the ocean, the driver focuses intently
on opportunities to pass slower cars. It is best to give up clenching
our teeth and clutching the seat with white-knuckled hands.
While our driver
speeds on relentlessly, I tell the two novice archaeologists with me, stories
from our dig the year before in Kouklia.
Kouklia, is
the site of ancient Pafos or Palaepaphos and has retained the remains of
a sanctuary of Aphrodite as well as a Turkish fort (Chiflik). While
working there, the archaeological residence is either in the Chiflik or
the deserted rooms of the temporarily unused village school. Most
often at these sites we sleep dorm style on army cots or mattresses:
one room for the female archaeologists and one for the males. Makeshift,
ice cold showers are rigged up in the Turkish baths and are a welcome
relief to the day’s heat and dust.
Meals consist
of breakfast and lunch at base camp, and dinner, which is most often taken
at the local taverna in the centre of the village. In the evening
we make our way through the narrow streets to the plateia where tables
have been set. Some projects such as that of Idalion, pride themselves
in providing excellent food, and hire local cooks to create tasty meals
for their ravenous archaeologists.
The dinners
most often begin with various dips such as houmos, tzitziki, and taramasalata
with warm pitta bread wedges. There is always a fresh Greek salad
with cool cucumber, juicy red tomatoes, crumbly chunks of rich feta cheese,
olives and zippy onions all drizzled with locally made golden-green olive
oil and lemon. If we are lucky, the delicious fried haloumi cheese
is on the menu and is quickly eaten. The main course could be souvlaki
(kebab) or pastichio (a pasta dish somewhat like lasagna) with the world
famous Cypriot fried potatoes and village greens. Desserts
consist of various fruits such as fresh sweet figs straight from the tree,
juicy oranges, grapes or cool watermelon slices.
The villagers
find us entertaining and look forward to our seasonal visits. They
baptize us all with endearing nicknames, and talk about our strange foreign
habits. Until early August we reign supreme as the focus of attention
and comic relief from their daily routines.
When working
on the survey project in Kouklia, our day starts very early, before even
light appears on the horizon. We stumble around in the dark as the
last stars blink at us. The local donkey brays in spasmed agony,
and the forever hopeful rooster crows at an invisible dawn, forcing the
more sleepy archaeologists awake. Survey teams drive out in groups
of 5 to their designated locations, UTM maps tucked under arms and compasses
in hand. The trip is hair-raising. We drive along winding roads
deep into the mist-covered hills, honking the horn around each narrow curve
as many of the drivers cut the corners without compunction. When
we finally arrive at our destination, we orient ourselves using the map
and the local landscape features. Then, side by side, we each walk
a transect 100meters wide and 1km long, zig-zagging from one side of the
transect to the other. We are looking for signs of sites – artifacts
on the soil surface, structure walls, and possibly hillside tombs. When
we reach the end of our transect, we sweep the next 50X 100m rectangle
and reconvene at the car. This way we map out all visible archaeological
sites on one square km of land every day.
While surveying,
I encounter an old woman herding her sheep. She watches me from a
distance for quite some time, as I weave my way towards her, back and forth
through the dry grain fields dotted with occasional olive or carob tree.
When I come close to her she greets me, and no doubt thinking that the
sun has made a muddle of my mind, suggests helpfully that I might like
to use my car and take the road instead of walking through the fields.
I explain in my school book Greek that we are archaeologists looking for
ancient sites. She nods and wishes me luck, quite obviously unconvinced.
By the end
of two months of surveying, we have become very strong and have built up
our stamina and cardiovascular fitness. We have also learned more
about the landscape and people than we ever expected. Our Greek has
improved as we converse with the local Cypriots and share some of their
food. We are often invited in for tea and must decline as we have
a schedule to keep. In my opinion, there is no better way to learn
about a country than to leave the car behind and travel by foot through
the countryside.
Later, after
a swim, we wash, catalogue, measure, photograph draw and analyze the artifacts
we have collected. At the end of the season, these objects will be
placed in the museum for other archaeologists to study. At 7pm we
finish and go for dinner, the rich aroma of oven baked goat (kleftiko)
and roast potatoes (the best in the world) wafting through the narrow street.
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Article
Continued Below - |
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Article
Continued From Above -.
There are many
more stories to tell, but they must wait as our taxi finally arrives in
Athienou. We pile out beside the gymnasium, our headquarters for
the next month, and meet the rest of the crew. In 1974 Turkey invaded
Cyprus and the result was a divided land: the Cypriot Greeks live
in the south and the Cypriot Turks and mainland Turks live in the north.
Atheniou is close to the Green Line, between the two Cypruses, the Turkish
guns on the hills above, lending an ominous air to the proceedings.
Our day begins
before the crack of dawn but unlike the survey project in Kouklia, this
one is an excavation project. The morning begins with a bumpy ride
to the ancient site of Malloura a few kilometers to the south. The
truck is driven by the forever lively, M. Toumazou. He is the director
of the excavation and was born in Famagusta which is now in Turkish hands.
After their flight from the Turkish invasion, his refugee family settled
in Athienou. Today, many family members are willing supporters
of the archaeological project.
Malloura is
a huge sanctuary site and is rich with artifacts from centuries of visiting
pilgrims from all corners of the ancient Mediterranean world.
In the early morning the site is cool and peaceful. We set up our
screens, trowels, wheelbarrows and shovels in our various units and begin
excavating. The anticipation of finding objects which were touched
by hands thousands of years ago is enough motivation to keep us working
steadily throughout the day and we are not disappointed. We have many work-stopping
discoveries of limestone and marble sculptures, new structure walls, and
possibly, an intact tomb. The sun rises as does the heat and the
dust. At noon, when the site is getting too hot to work, we return
to Athienou for lunch after which, the archaeologists go to the lab to
work with the discovered artifacts. Some wash and catalogue artifacts,
while others analyze and illustrate the sculptures, terracotta figurines
and ceramics.
Occasionally,
the day ends with a swim in the sparkling blue sea to the south.
Or we may treat ourselves to a wonderful dining experience at The Mill
Restaurant in Dali (one of the best restaurants in Cyprus). Dali,
the village in which the archaeologist Pam Gaber works, amongst others,
also boasts the most amazing homemade ice cream. The ice cream man
always seems to show up just as the archaeologists are leaving the field
at noon, or at the end of the day’s work. He offers us various flavors
depending on the fruit of the season which keep our taste buds drooling:
Fresh apricot, zippy lemon, perfumy rosewater, chartreuse green pistachio,
and tangy orange. My favourite is the rich, wine-red cherry.
On our day
off which is usually a Monday, we can catch up on letters, go shopping,
visit the craft centers, take the bus to the beach or make trips back into
history by visiting museums, and some of the other numerous archaeological
sites in the area. Nicosia offers the best shopping on the island.
Part of the older section of the city has been refurbished with modern
shops and stone-paved pedestrian streets which are lined with jewelry shops,
top notch clothing boutiques, music and book shops and up-scale restaurants
serving the typical Cypriote/Near Eastern dishes, as well as other various
culinary delights. . If not too exhausted from the day’s work, it
is either to Plato’s restaurant that we might make our way in the evening,
or the discos of Nicosia and Larnaca. From the latter we emerge,
happily exhausted and completely deafened.
Sometimes we
visit Paphos on the west side of the island. It has become quite
a bustling town. Shops and restaurants grow more numerous every year.
Pottery shops are numerous. Some have adopted the ancient techniques
and authentic designs; others have become modern in their designs, creating
works of art in glorious colours.
Continuing
down to the harbour you will pass numerous tourist shops, the Saranda Kalones
(40 columns) Archaeological site, and at the harbor itself numerous seafood
restaurants. The harbour is guarded by the Venetian fortress through
which you can go on a tour. We occasionally visit the archaeological
sites in Polis situated on the West coast to the north of Pafos.
It is perhaps the more peaceful of the main towns and is much like Pafos
used to be in the 1980’s. This area was first “discovered”
by the German expatriate community.
The harbour
boasts many fine seafood restaurants, boat cruises and biking tours.
The hills above Polis and Paphos are rich in culture. Phiti is the
weaving capital of the island. Ladies sit at their looms for long
hours making woven runners and blankets as the tour buses roll through
the narrow streets. Another island handicraft is the Lefkara lace,
originating from the small village of Lefkara, just outside Limassol.
The craft is not limited to its original town, however. Many an enterprising
Cypriot craftswoman can be seen sitting outside her kitchen door, creating
various works of art in lace. Huge table cloth sets can be ordered
on consignment and the smaller works are available on site. The Cypriot
Handicraft Organization is working hard to keep the culture and crafts
alive on the island, and it is a strong supporter of the local artisans.
Often when
the heat is unbearable down on the dry plain where Athienou is located,
a trip up into the cooler air of the Troodos Mountains is a wonderful relief.
Clear, cool streams gurgle and gush through the culverts and along the
walking paths and roadsides and the fresh, heady scent of pine fills the
air. Geraniums and bouganvilla overflow their ceramic pots, and cats
sun themselves on the window sills. Occasionally in the winter there
is enough snow in the Troodos to ski! Kykkos monastery with it numerous
arches, cloisters, bright and colourful mosaics, and hand painted icons
provides a fascinating walk back into history. During weekends and
religious festivals, the local Cypriots stream up into the mountains in
caravans of cars, brightly colored streamers fluttering out the windows.
The atmosphere is always that of a joyous celebration and connection with
friends and family.
With all these
many adventures, it is hard to believe that we still have time to do our
archaeological survey, excavation, illustration and artifact analysis.
Somehow we manage! There is plenty to do. Cyprus has had such
a rich history, with centuries of habitation and battles over supremacy
in the eastern Mediterranean that there are many locations on the island
with layers upon layers of previous habitation remains. Archaeological
discoveries have been made which originate from a wide span of time – from
well before the Neolithic 7000BC, through to the Bronze Age, into the time
of Richard the Lionheart – he stopped in Cyprus on his way to the Third
Crusade, residing in Limassol Castle with his Queen Berengaria (who
was said to have been no oil painting!) and continue all the way to modern
times.
There are numerous projects ongoing in Cyprus, and even more sites awaiting
archaeological excavation and study. Because of this, we return
many times to the island, year after year, to discover the clues and reconstruct
the lives of the ancient peoples of Cyprus. Their ancient lives and
faces are most certainly echoed in those of the present-day Cypriots, who
live not only in the tiny villages that still dot the wide green valleys
and steep craggy landscape of this island, but also live in the sleek modern
homes of the bustling cities. Each Cypriot’s life is a rich tapestry
of historical and artifactual connections between their life and that of
their ancestors. The thread from past to present is strong and clear.
Archaeology is indelibly printed on the Cypriot landscape and is available
to all who seek its adventures. Such travels will take you into a
tapestry of ancient sites and legends, cultures and customs brought to
life and into focus by the present-day traditional dances, music, crafts
and delicious local dishes of the welcoming Cypriots.
The land and
its people both past and present tug at our heart strings,
”Oh Cyprus
set in the sea
Would I could
wend to thee!”
.
.....
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