Akrotiri-Dreamer's Bay: the Buffalo and Brock coastal and underwater survey

The survey at Akrotiri-Dreamer's Bay began in 1989 as an underwater reconnaissance by John R. Leonard after reports of a massive ancient breakwater, and architectural and ceramic material was noted on the seabed¹. Further underwater and terrestrial survey followed in 1990 and 1991, when the team prepared a detailed top plan of one warehouse foundation¹. The seasons were 1989 to 1991 and 2006 to 2007, under the University at Buffalo, SUNY and Brock University². Leonard also reports analyses of surface pottery on shore in 1999 and 2003, which brought to light the site's earlier Hellenistic horizon¹.

In 2006 the Ancient Port Project began what Leonard calls a new phase, with Leonard, Bradley Ault and Stella Demesticha named as co-directors and students from Buffalo, Brock and the University of Cyprus assisting¹. The team established a survey grid and general site plan, recorded the foundations of a half-dozen warehouses and, in 2007, possible maritime villas. They cleaned and planned sections of the ashlar breakwater and studied a scatter of nearby stone anchors¹. The team proposed further ceramic analyses and trial excavation of key structures to investigate the role of the bay in Hellenistic and Roman Cyprus¹.

Leonard described the site as in operation since at least Hellenistic times and flourishing as a maritime emporium in the Late Roman era, which he dated to the fifth through seventh centuries CE¹. James, Blue, Rogers and Score argue instead that Dreamer's Bay was not a nucleated port town but a concentration of maritime facilities with varied functions within a wider maritime cultural landscape³.