Kourion: the Department's clearance of the stadium

The Department of Antiquities cleared the stadium at Kourion between autumn 1963 and 1966, resuming a task the University of Pennsylvania Museum had stopped after George McFadden's death¹. J. S. Last directed field operations on behalf of the Director of Antiquities, and Vassos Karageorghis supervised the 1963 campaign and wrote its report in the Bulletin de correspondance hellénique, based on Last's notes¹.

In autumn 1963 the Department cleared debris from both sides of the western part of the south wall, between the south and west entrances, to expose the outer wall, establish the width of the seating substructure and locate the euthynteria¹. The section showed gravel-and-lime foundations resting mostly on bedrock, with cross-walls about 10 m apart supporting the seating fill; the report calculated seven rows of seats reaching about 4.40 m above the euthynteria¹. The campaign also traced a semicircular conduit around the west end, identified in the report as a diversion of the Sotira-Kourion water line, and put its channel sections back in place¹. The chronicle reports Mr Young's view that the stadium dates from the Roman period and was used until about 400¹.

The 1965 report said little remained except the north-west outer part, and recorded traces of a dirt road along the south exterior wall and small buildings against the north and south walls on the east side; research based on comparison with other stadiums was to help locate the stairs, of which no traces had been found². In 1966 displaced blocks of the north seating were gathered and aligned, with their provenances noted to help partial restoration, pebble foundations under the south bank were exposed, and missing euthynteria slabs were being restored; the investigation found no clearer evidence for the arrangement of the steps³. In his chronicle for 1966 Karageorghis wrote that an official archaeological report on the stadium excavations was hoped for soon³.