British School at Athens

The School holds no published Cypriot collection; its Cyprus involvement was sponsorship of fieldwork, student training and photographic and sherd archives. The School archive holds the SPHS/BSA image collection including photographs of the 1888 Kouklia excavation, and one Mycenaean sherd from F. B. Welch's 1899 tomb-hunting at Palaipaphos survives in the School's sherd collection.

Given 2025Tatton-Brown 2001, p. 97

1. 1887
   The Cyprus Exploration Fund was set up, with the support of the British School at Athens, the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies and the University of Cambridge, to promote scientific excavation after the High Commissioner banned excavations not conducted by public academic institutions. Kiely (2010) says Newton had a very important part in creating both the SPHS and the School and that the Fund was the product of efforts by both bodies.

   LondonCharles NewtonFrancis Henry Hill GuillemardSidney ColvinThe Discovery of Ancient…, p. 8Kiely 2010, p. 247

2. 1888
   The Cyprus Exploration Fund, directed by E. A. Gardner as Director of the School, excavated the Sanctuary of Aphrodite at Kouklia (Palaipaphos); Tatton-Brown/Maier judge it the only carefully planned, systematically conducted and adequately published nineteenth-century project in Cyprus (published a year after the work).

   KoukliaErnest Arthur GardnerTatton-Brown 2001, p. 95-96

3. 1889–1890
   J. A. R. Munro and H. A. Tubbs, students of the School, directed Cyprus Exploration Fund work at Polis (1889, left in their charge) and at Salamis (1890).

   Polis; SalamisJohn Arthur Ruskin MunroH. Arnold TubbsTatton-Brown 2001, p. 191Munro & Tubbs 1890

4. 1898–1900
   F. B. Welch, Craven University Fellow at the School, worked at Palaipaphos in 1899, seconded to the British Museum; part of the material went to the BM and the Ashmolean and one Mycenaean sherd to the School's sherd collection.

   KoukliaFrancis Bertram WelchTatton-Brown 2001, p. 97Tatton-Brown 2001

5. 1909
   W. J. Farrell, associate member of the School, wrote a candid report on the state of the Cyprus Museum and Cypriot archaeology, apparently commissioned by Director R. M. Dawkins after Dawkins's own visit earlier in 1909. On 7 September 1909 the London Secretary J. ff. Baker Penoyre invited Cobham, Farrell and Thompson to a conference on Cyprus on 14 September to discuss it. Merrillees argues the episode contributed to the later 1935 Antiquities Law and Department of Antiquities.

   LondonWilfrid Jerome FarrellRichard MacGillivray DawkinsJohn ff. Baker PenoyreClaude Delaval CobhamMerrillees 2005

6. 1924–1925
   Porphyrios Dikaios studied for a time at the School (1924-25) before Liverpool and Paris, later becoming Curator of the Cyprus Museum.

   AthensPorphyrios DikaiosKiely 2017

7. 1937–1938
   J. R. B. Stewart's excavation of the Vounous cemetery was formally under the auspices of the School, which contributed nothing to the cost because its finances were already committed; funds came from private supporters (including Sir Charles Hyde, Sir Charles Marston, Walter Beasley) and Stewart's family. Eleanor Stewart was co-excavator and cataloguer. The final report is titled as sponsored by the School.

   Bellapais-VounousJames Rivers Barrington StewartEleanor StewartKiely 2017Stewart & Stewart 1950

8. 1966–1967
   First British excavation of the post-independence period: Saranda Kolones castle, Paphos, directed by A. H. S. Megaw (former Director of Antiquities), sponsored by the School; R. J. C. Jamieson was architect and G. Waywell and J. W. Hayes students in 1966.

   PaphosArthur Hubert Stanley MegawR. J. C. JamiesonG. WaywellJ. W. HayesKiely 2017Rosser 1985Megaw 1967

9. 1970–1971
   Saranda Kolones excavated again by the School in association with Dumbarton Oaks (Megaw's Dumbarton Oaks connection per Rosser).

   PaphosArthur Hubert Stanley MegawRosser 1985

10. 1971–1989
    Hector W. Catling left the Ashmolean for the directorship of the School in 1971 and retired in 1989 after eighteen years as Director.

    AthensHector CatlingCatling 2020

11. 1981–1983
    Saranda Kolones excavations resumed in 1981 with the same sponsors, with John Rosser as Associate Director and Boston College and Earthwatch as additional sponsors; seasons 1981, 1982, 1983.

    PaphosArthur Hubert Stanley MegawJohn RosserRosser 1985

12. 1985–1993
    After Gerald Cadogan moved from Cincinnati to England the School became co-sponsor of the Maroni-Vournes excavations (first season 1981-82 under the University of Cincinnati), which resumed as a joint enterprise in 1985 and continued to 1993 with later study seasons; Steel's Archaeology in Cyprus 1987-1997 gives the sponsorship as running to 1997.

    MaroniGerald CadoganKiely 2017Steel 1997-1998, p. 143

13. 1988
    A. H. S. Megaw, 'The British School at Athens and Cyprus', RDAC 1988 (part 2) 281-286: Megaw's account of the School's Cyprus involvement (not read).

    Arthur Hubert Stanley MegawKiely 2017

• Anja Ulbrich and Cyprus's Silent SanctuariesArticle
• Max Ohnefalsch-Richter: The Excavator Who Recorded Cyprus and Scattered ItArticle
• The Island With No Dark Age: Maria Iacovou and the Kingdoms of CyprusArticle
• Two Birds, Two Necks: A Vounous Jug, Its Louvre Cousin, and a Lost One from Tomb 46AArticle
• Bellapais VounousSite
• Vounous and Early Bronze Age BurialCompendium