Expedition
Mission archéologique française de Salamine
Cyprus · founded 1964
Expedition, founded 1964; part of Université de Lyon. 24 people in the register connected with it.
History
- September 1963At the 8th International Congress of Classical Archaeology in Paris, Jean Pouilloux and Vassos Karageorghis, then acting Director of Antiquities, agreed to create a French excavation at Salamis; Karageorghis recalls that Pierre Devambez of the Louvre had suggested to Pouilloux that he dig there. The academic base was the Institut Fernand-Courby of the University of Lyon, with a budget line in the Commission des fouilles of the French foreign ministry.
ParisJean PouillouxVassos KarageorghisPierre DevambezJacqueline KarageorghisYon 2014Karageorghis 2014
- October 1964Preliminary visit of about a week by Pouilloux and Jean Jehasse: the concession ground was walked in a systematic grid with the 1890 Munro and Tubbs report in hand, and a few trial soundings were made. The administrative papers were settled during 1964, and Karageorghis says few official documents were exchanged.
SalamisJean PouillouxJean JehasseMichalis Marinos VaiosLoullaBebaYon 2014Jehasse 2014Yon 2019Karageorghis 2014
- April 1965First campaign (April-June), followed by a second (September-November). The team named by Yon was Pouilloux, G. Roux, Jean Jehasse, Jeanne Roux, Nicole Weill, Marguerite Calvet(-Yon), Paul Roesch and the architects François Bady and Paul Pironin; the foreman was Michalis Marinos Vaios, with workers from Enkomi and Ayios Sergios. A topographic survey and a 100 m grid were laid first. Three trenches were opened: the Campanopetra, a stratigraphic sounding near the dunes, and the 'temple of Zeus'.
SalamisJean PouillouxG. RouxJean JehasseJeanne RouxNicole WeillMarguerite YonPaul RoeschFrançois BadyPaul PironinMichalis Marinos VaiosYon 2014Yon 2019Yon 2014
- 1965A chamber tomb ('T I') of the 11th century BC, full of early Geometric pottery and gold jewellery, was found by chance under a 5th-century AD house. It pushed back the known beginning of the city by about three centuries (Yon's account). The 4th-century (Yon 2019) or 5th-century (Yon 2014) house over it was excavated first; Roux stopped work at the temple for this, and Yon excavated the tomb.
- 1965The Campanopetra upright block proved to be a door jamb of a large early Christian basilica complex buried under dunes several metres high; clearance with a Decauville railway and lorries took several years (published by Roux in Salamine XV, 1998). The nearby 'Résidence de l'Huilerie' was also excavated.
CampanopetraG. RouxGilbert ArgoudOlivier CallotBruno HellyYon 2014Yon 2019
- 1966Pouilloux began building the mission's excavation house by the sea, just north of the site, with workrooms, drawing and photographic rooms, two-level storerooms and beds for 18-20 people. Karageorghis calls it a centre for young archaeologists of all nationalities.
- 1968The mission was asked to excavate a small extra-mural sanctuary (Ayios Varnavas, site A), a few hundred metres south of the Barnabas monastery. It yielded mostly female limestone statuettes of the late Cypro-Archaic II and Cypro-Classical periods (Salamine V, 1974).
Ayios VarnavasMarguerite YonYon 2014Yon 2019
- 1969Salamine I (the lamps, by Oziol and Pouilloux) opened the series Salamine de Chypre (De Boccard, Paris), planned by Pouilloux to publish results as the work went on.
- 1970Excavation of the 'temple of Zeus' (the Hellenistic and Roman sanctuary, whose podium George Jeffery had reconstructed in 1924) resumed; Yon 2014 dates the resumption to 1970 and Yon 2019 says it was properly resumed only in 1973.
SalamisGilbert ArgoudOlivier CallotBruno HellyJ. BruchetGeorge JefferyYon 2014Yon 2019Karageorghis 1971
- 1972Marguerite Yon took over responsibility for the mission when Pouilloux prepared to preside over the Centre de Recherches archéologiques of the CNRS (Yon 2019); Yon 2014 states that Pouilloux directed from 1964 to summer 1972 and that Yon directed 1972-2007.
- July 1974The Turkish invasion ended fieldwork after the spring campaign (April-June 1974). The planned September-October campaign never took place, and the Salamis site fell in the northern part of the island. The main 1973-1974 work had been at the temple of Zeus.
- October 1974Karageorghis recalls that Pouilloux demanded to return to the site in October 1974 and found the French and Cypriot excavation houses vandalised; he was refused permission to take away the excavation notebooks kept in the French house because, he was told, they were 'war booty' (Karageorghis's account).
- 1976After the loss of Salamis the Lyon mission's fieldwork moved to Kition (Larnaca) and the mission became the 'mission de Kition et Salamine'. Yon 2019 dates the change to 1976; Yon 2014 says the name 'Mission archéologique française de Kition et Salamine' came with Fourrier's direction from 2008.
- 1977Salamine VII, Oziol's Les lampes du Musée de Chypre, is the one volume of the series listed by Yon 2019 but omitted from the list in Yon 2014; its title shows that a body of Salamis lamps was held in the Cyprus Museum.
NicosiaThérèse OziolYon 2019
- March 1978Lyon hosted the international CNRS colloquium 'Salamine de Chypre: histoire et archéologie, état des recherches' (13-17 March 1978), edited by Yon (Paris, 1980).
- 1998
- 2004Salamine XVI, Callot's Les monnaies (city excavations 1964-1974), completed the sixteen-volume series (1969-2004).
- 2008Sabine Fourrier took over the direction of the mission, by then 'Mission archéologique française de Kition et Salamine'.
- 14 May 2015The President of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, gave the mission the Grand Commander grade of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Cyprus at a ceremony at the Presidential Palace, Nicosia, after a May 2015 Nicosia conference on Salamis organised by the University of Cyprus and the Department of Antiquities.
NicosiaMarguerite YonYon 2014
People
24 peopleStaff and members · 23
- Charles DugasDoyen de la faculté des Lettres; professor of classical archaeology (teacher of Jacqueline Karageorghis)1953
- Jacqueline Karageorghisstudent (classical archaeology, ancient history); later Lyon PhD (3rd-cycle thesis)1953
- Bebastaff (from 1964) · housekeeper · worked for itJehasse 2014Karageorghis 20141964
- Jean Jehasseexcavator (1964–1974) · member, first mission 1965; pioneer with PouillouxYon 2014Jehasse 20141964
- Loullastaff (from 1964) · aide ménagère (housekeeper, cook) at the mission house · worked for itJehasse 2014Karageorghis 20141964
- Michalis Marinos Vaiosstaff (1964–1974) · contremaitre / chef de chantier (foreman) · worked for itYon 2014Karageorghis 20141964–1974
- Thérèse Monloupmember · young collaborator of Jean PouillouxKarageorghis 20141964
- François Badymember (1965–1965) · architect, first 'mission française 1965'Yon 20141965
- G. Rouxfield-director (1965–1974) · co-head of the Lyon mission at Salamis with J. Pouilloux; excavator of the Campanopetra basilicaYon 2014Karageorghis 20141965–1974
- Jeanne Rouxmember (1965–1965) · member of the first campaign teamYon 20141965
- Paul Roeschmember (from 1965) · member of the first 'mission francaise 1965'; later co-editor of the inscriptions corpusYon 20141965
- Bruno Hellymember (1970–1980) · member of the excavation teamYon 2014Karageorghis 19711970
- Marguerite Yondirector (1965–2007)Yon 2014Yon 20141973
- Olivier Callotmember (1973–1974) · member (architect); French mission to Salamis ran 1964-1974Yon 20191973
- Marie-José Chavaneauthor of Salamine VI (small finds) and co-author of Salamine X1975
- Catherine Diederichsmember or staff1980
- Anne-Marie Larribeaumember of the excavation team at the temple of Zeus
- Annie CaubetmemberKarageorghis 2014Yon 2019
- Gilbert ArgoudmemberYon 2014
- Nicole Weillmember (from 1965)Yon 2014Karageorghis 2014
- Paul Pironinmember (from 1965)Yon 2014Karageorghis 1966
- Sabine Fourrierdirector (from 2008)Yon 2014
- Vassos Karageorghisofficial (1963–1974)Yon 2014Karageorghis 2014
Fieldwork · 1
- Jean Pouillouxdirector (1964–1972) · dug for itYon 2014Karageorghis 20141964–1974
Objects
Early Geometric chamber tomb T I with pottery and gold jewellery (Salamine II)
Tomb T Ifrom Salamis, SW, under a 5th-c. AD house1965Yon 2014
Fragmentary Attic amphora, early 6th century BC
Sal. 7941from Salamis, southern rampart debrisYon 2014
Digraphic (Greek and Cypriot syllabic) inscription [Eu]agora[s] [Sal]aminios, c. 400 BC
Sal. 12from Salamis, from the excavation of the house over T I1965Yon 2014
Terracotta female head, 4th century BC
Sal. 513from Salamis, southern rampart zoneYon 2014
Silver tetradrachm of the Salamis mint, Vespasian / statue of Zeus (one of 26 coins of Vespasian and Titus)
Sal. 8052from Temple of Zeus, SalamisYon 2014
Bronze head of a statue of Claude, found crushed in the temple's access ramp
Sal. 6298from Temple of Zeus, SalamisYon 2014
Half capital of Proconnesian marble from the Campanopetra basilica
AR 520from Campanopetra, Salamis1970Yon 2014
Sources
- 1.Marguerite Yon (2014). “Salamine 1964-2014 : un bilan”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 44, 29-44. Online
- 2.Marguerite Yon (2014). “De l'Université de Lyon à Salamine (1964-2014): introduction”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 44, 17-18. Online
- 3.V. Karageorghis (2014). “Jean Pouilloux à Salamine de Chypre”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 44.
- 4.Jean Jehasse (2014). “Première mission à Salamine, 1964”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 44. Online
- 5.Marguerite Yon (2019). “Un cinquantenaire. La mission de l'université de Lyon à Salamine”. Salamis of Cyprus: History and Archaeology from the Earliest Times to Late Antiquity, 37-50.
- 6.V. Karageorghis (1966). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1965”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 90.
- 7.V. Karageorghis (1971). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1970”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 95.