Welcome to Ancient Cyprus
The island of Cyprus is host to an incredible archeological history, spanning over ten thousand years and a myriad of major civilizations. This website is dedicated to documenting its archeology and history.
Recent Articles
Ancient Cypriot Architecture: A Course from the First Villages to the Roman Earthquake
Fourteen lessons on how the people of ancient Cyprus built, from the round houses of Khirokitia to...
Ancient Cypriot Pottery: A Course from the First Pots to the Classical Kingdoms
Fifteen lessons on reading a Cypriot pot, from Neolithic combed bowls to Hellenistic oil bottles:...
Two Birds, Two Necks: A Vounous Jug, Its Louvre Cousin, and a Lost One from Tomb 46A
A Red Polished flask from the Cypriot Early Bronze Age, about 57 centimetres tall, reassembled from...
The Newest String: A Middle Bronze Age Cypriot Faience Necklace
A string of faience beads, their striking turquoise glaze gone matte and clouded with buff, hung on...
The registers
Who dug, sold, kept and wrote about them
Every Cypriot antiquity passed through many hands. Three linked registers follow them: the people, the institutions they worked for, and what was written about it all. Each entry links to the others.
Consuls and diggers of the 1860s, dealers, collectors, curators and scholars down to the present.
Browse all peopleMuseums, auction houses, dealers' firms, expeditions, consulates and universities.
Browse all institutionsBooks, articles, museum and sale catalogues, excavation reports, laws and archive papers.
- Cyprus in the 19th Century AD: Fact, Fancy and FictionVeronica Tatton-Brown (ed.), 2001
- The Consul Luigi Palma di Cesnola 1832-1904: Life and DeedsA. G. Marangou (ed.), 2000
- Deutschland und das antike Zypern. Beiträge zur Geschichte einer archäologischen DisziplinMatthias Recke, 2012
Interactive map
Explore Cyprus, Period by Period
Ten thousand years of settlement on one illustrated island. Step through seventeen periods from the first foragers to the Archaic city-kingdoms, zoom from the whole island down to a single valley, and open any site we have written up straight from its pin.
Play
Learn by playing
Three free games built on real objects and real digs: make a pot, open a tomb, trace a vase. About five minutes each.
Cypro-Archaic Bird Motifs
The pottery of ancient Cyprus, especially throughout the Archaic period, is known for various repeating patterns and motifs, including intricate free-field birds. Let us explore commonly found bird motifs and the pottery on which they live.
3D Models of Cypriot Pottery
Through our cutting-edge Photogrammetry program we have published our first set of compressed 3D models featuring an impressive resolution of up to 20 pixels per mm.
Our models have been published with 8k textures downsampled from 16k, you can view them here.
You can also find out more about our Photogrammetry Program and future plans. We will be publishing articles detailing our photogrammetry approach and the use of 3D models in archeology.
Explore the History of Cyprus
Find out more about Cyprus from the first settlers to the late Archaic periods. Note we do not cover the later classical periods. For a short introduction to the history of Cyprus see the History Page.
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Our Mission
Our mission is to democratize access to the fascinating history and cultural heritage of Ancient Cyprus by collecting, preserving, and sharing all known knowledge in a way that is engaging, understandable, and free for everyone.
We are committed to breaking down barriers to learning by translating complex research and literature into accessible, easy-to-understand content, providing the tools and resources necessary for people of all backgrounds to explore and appreciate the rich history of Cyprus. Through our dedication to writing, collecting, and preserving the history of Cyprus, we aim to inspire curiosity, foster a deeper understanding, and ensure that the invaluable knowledge of this ancient civilization is accessible to generations to come.
Find out More About Our Projects
We have several ongoing and planned Projects:
- The Compendium of Cypriot Pottery
- End to End Course on Cypriot Archeology
- Largest Online Catalogue of Cypriot artefacts
- Research Unveiled: Simplifying & Documenting Research for All
- What really happened in the 1800s: Artifacts Lost to History
- An Interactive Historical Map of Ancient Cyprus
- A Comprehensive list of Cypriot Collections around the World
- A Complete Catalogue of Resources on Ancient Cyprus
