Series·Swedish Cyprus Expedition

Ayia Irini: the sanctuary in the field, drawings and other finds

127 field photographs, 83 object photographs, 21 drawings, 1 plan · 1929–30

Sites: Ayia Irini-Palaeokastro, Vouni, Idalion, Marion, Stylli, Ayios Iakovos-Melia

This series holds 127 field photographs, 83 object photographs, 21 drawings and a plan from the Swedish Cyprus Expedition's excavation of the sanctuary at Ayia Irini, near the north-west coast, which began in November 1929 under Erik Sjöqvist. The site was found when the village priest, Papa Prokopios, brought a terracotta statue from his field to the Cyprus Museum.

The two main folders are "Ajia Irini, In situ fynd" (62 prints, finds in place) and "Ajia Irini Temenos Topography etc" (52). They show the altar from the east, the trenches and walls of the temenos, and the terracotta figures and sculptures standing in front of the altar as they were uncovered. SCE II explains why so many were still upright: three floods in the Cypro-Archaic period buried the earlier figures in sand and gravel, and new figures were placed on each raised floor; after the third flood, about 510–500 BC, the temenos was abandoned. Other prints show Sjöqvist on a village balcony, field drawings, sherds of the sanctuary's Periods 1 and 3, and small finds in stone, alabaster, bronze and jewellery. A few prints filed here belong to other sites.

The terracottas and seals have their own series. Sjöqvist's Ayia Irini find lists are in D II:1e.

Sources

Gjerstad, E., Lindros, J., Sjöqvist, E. and Westholm, A. 1935. The Swedish Cyprus Expedition: Finds and Results of the Excavations in Cyprus 1927–1931, vol. II. Stockholm, pp. 642 and 820–824.