Correspondence between Schaeffer and Megaw about Dikaios's reportArthur Hubert Stanley Megaw and Claude Frédéric-Armand Schaeffer

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Le Castel Blanc, 14 Rue Turgot, St.Germain-en-Laye, (Seine et Oise). 12 July 1950.

Dear Megaw,

Yours sincerely,

Thank you for your letter of 27th june. I await Dikaios' reply to my report.

I regret that you dislike my intention of being present when layers 5 and earlier, vital for the chronology of the ashlar compound are opened. When in your field of ancient architecture a difference of opinion arises, it is always possible to verify the position, for the floors, walls and architectural details remain in position and are preserved. On the contrary, archae-ological research results in partial or total destruction of the evidence, especially concerning the stratigraphical position where Dikaios, to my opinion, made a grave misinterpretation. Everything rests here on the interpretation of the evidence noticed during the dig.

I proposed that we all three be present when these layers are opened. I am distressed that you consider this as an attempt on my part to control Dikaios' dig. Had I not been convinced of the accuracy of Dikaios' digging technique, I simply would not have invited him to join my work.

But I am even more disturbed that you introduce into a matter of scientific research the "status of the Cyprus Government". Here is no place for questions of national prestige and I am not prepared to accept my own government's or any other to have a say in the internal affairs of a scientific expedition where problems of stratigraphy and dating are concerned that need long experience to be usefully discussed.

On the other hand, I quite agree with you that it would be better for Dikaios to come to his final conclusions by being able to see the stratigraphical position in the lower layers by himself after having had time to study my criticism.

I therefore am ready to accept the following compromise: Dikaios may excavate before my return to Cyprus, if he wishes to do so, half of all floors V and earlier ones, he has previously reached in his dig and preserve the other half intact, with the layers beneath to the rock, for the present. In this way, if disagreement in the stratigraphical and chronological matter persists, it would be possible to make a combined verification, eventually in the presence of other experts. All excavators have to preserve parts of their site in order that future research … continues