Rescue excavationDepartment of Antiquities

Vrysi tou Rantidiou: rescue of a Hellenistic oil-production complex

Name: Vrysi tou Rantidiou: rescue of a Hellenistic oil-production complex
Start: 2000
End: 2001

2000–2001 · Vrysi tou Rantidiou

A rescue excavation of 2000–2001 at Vrysi tou Rantidiou, where a 16 x 7 m Hellenistic building with cement-lined cisterns and sunken pithoi was associated by Louise Steel with large-scale olive-oil production.

Map of Cyprus

Where the work took place

Ground above 200, 500, 1,000 m

Site

1Vrysi tou Rantidiou (approx.)

Modern coastline (OpenStreetMap) and relief (Copernicus DEM).

The project

A rescue excavation at Vrysi tou Rantidiou in 2000–2001, sponsored by the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus, exposed a Hellenistic building that Louise Steel associates with large-scale olive-oil production¹. It had several small rooms and measured 16 x 7 m overall, with stone walls built directly onto natural rock, large cement-lined cisterns and sunken pithoi. The finds were pithoi, amphoras, cooking pots and one relief-decorated lamp. Bronze Age sherds indicate earlier occupation in the vicinity, and sgraffito ware attests to medieval occupation. Intact water pipes lay in situ on the slopes below; Steel notes that they could be either Hellenistic or medieval. The excavation is reported in Steel's Archaeology in Cyprus 1997–2002.

Institutions

Department of Antiquities of CyprusSponsor

Seasons

1 season

20006 December 2000 - 26 January 2001
Hellenistic olive-oil production complex (16 x 7 m) with cement cisterns and sunken pithoi; Bronze Age and medieval sherds. Hellenistic rural installation found during golf course construction, partially excavated. Complex of rooms about 16 x 7 m built against natural rock, with rock fragments incorporated, walls 1 to 1.50 m high, some blocks rectangular and reused. Finds: pithoi, amphorae, cooking wares, a relief-decorated lamp. A few Bronze Age sherds suggest earlier occupation.
[1], [2]