News
New fieldwork, research, books, exhibitions and heritage crime cases from Cyprus.
This Week in Cypriot Archaeology·12–18 October 2026
Nicosia's Leventis Museum opens an exhibition of 136 coins, CAARI calls for papers for the Swedish Cyprus Expedition centenary, and Malcolm Wiener dies at 91.
Research·Brief
Phytoliths from 25 soil samples at the village north of Paphos point to wheat as its main cereal, though the charred seeds are mostly figs, lentils and pistachio.
Source: Kasapidou, Düring, Tsirtsi, Margaritis and García-Granero, A new window into agricultural practices in Chalcolithic Cyprus, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 75 (2026) 106081
Books·Brief
Sixteen studies edited by Sergios Menelaou and Edyta Marzec run from metal-imitating prehistoric pots to the workshops that supplied Ottoman Nicosia.
Source: Routledge (Taylor & Francis): Ancient and Preindustrial Ceramics from Cyprus
Research·Brief
Giorgos Papantoniou argues that the cult of Arsinoe II tied Cypriot towns and sanctuaries to Ptolemaic rule, down to a tithe-collector's pots at the Kafizin grotto.
Source: Papantoniou, The Annual of the British School at Athens
Research·Brief
Of 15,134 plant remains from Pyla-Kokkinokremos, 99% came from one rock-cut shaft, which the authors read as an animal-fodder store later given up.
Source: Henkel, Bretschneider, Driessen, Kanta and Margaritis, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 75 (2026) 106069
Fieldwork·Brief
Chamber 5, one of 15 rock-cut spaces on the hill, was probably abandoned before any burial once the new city wall took Fabrika into the town.
Source: Department of Antiquities, Cyprus: Completion of the excavation by the French Archaeological Mission of Avignon University on Fabrika Hill in Kato Pafos
Museums·Brief
MPs heard the building had been expected by 3 February 2027; the chair of the House education committee said the public may not get in until 2030.
Source: gov.cy photo gallery: Transport Minister, Deputy Minister of Culture, Cyprus Archaeological Museum
Research·Brief
Microscopy of mineralised cloth on the 2014 hoard from Vasili hill, in the occupied Karpas, finds 13–15 different tabby fabrics and several kinds of cord.
Source: TEXTILE (Kızılduman, Grömer, Peška, Topal-Kusku and Saunderson)
Research·Brief
Jugs in Tomb SS held barley, wheat, marigold and mallow burnt together; two other graves held barley, olive and grape left as food, a study in Levant reports.
Source: Levant: Bürge and Kofel, The power of plants (2026)
Research·Brief
Capitals, column bases and an altar recorded on a hill at Latsithkia in 1997 may belong to a temple of the late 1st century CE, four researchers argue.
Source: American Journal of Archaeology (Kordas, Popławski, Rekowska and Brzozowska-Jawornicka)
Museums·Brief
The Oxford exhibition runs from 8 October 2026 to 11 April 2027 and follows the goddess through more than 150 objects, from Cyprus to contemporary art and fashion.
Source: Ashmolean Museum: Aphrodite: The Making of a Goddess
Books·Brief
Teresa Bürge's study of more than 60 features dug in 2014–2022 finds figurines, seals and imports from Egypt to Sardinia in fills unlike household refuse.
Source: Åström Editions, Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology (SIMA) M162
Research·Brief
Nine of the 23 additions are rated certain; the authors argue ships were cut into Temple 1 for perhaps 300 years, from about 1200 BCE into the Early Iron Age.
Source: Braun, Barnes and Manolova, International Journal of Nautical Archaeology (Zenodo record)
Books·Brief
Sophocles Hadjisavvas, who began digging the Paphos cemetery in 1977, publishes the 1977–1981 seasons; the Ministry ties Tomb 8 to Ptolemy of Cyprus (80–58 BCE).
Source: Department of Antiquities, Cyprus: Release of Volume I
Heritage crime·Brief
The Evangelists Matthew and Mark, taken from the Metropolis palace in Kyrenia, were traced to the UK and handed back to the Church without payment.
Source: Holy Metropolis of Morphou: press release, 9 October 2026
Fieldwork·Brief
The University of Siena's 2026 season at Erimi-Laonin tou Porakou exposed the full plan of a 250 m² courtyard building and dug three late Middle Bronze Age chamber tombs.
Source: Deputy Ministry of Culture, Department of Antiquities, Cyprus: Completion of the 2026 fieldwork and research activities at Erimi–Laonin tou Porakou
Research·Brief
Todd began the project in 1976 at the Neolithic village of Kalavasos-Tenta and later dug the Late Bronze Age town of Ayios Dhimitrios with Alison South.
Source: Archaeological Research Unit, University of Cyprus: Obituary, Ian A. Todd
Fieldwork·Brief
The April–May dig near Limassol traced more rooms of the building, among them one at least 7 by 4.30 m with benches, a press weight and a deposit of raw clay.
Source: Deputy Ministry of Culture: Completion of the 2026 fieldwork season at the Late Bronze Age site of Erimi–Pitharka
Fieldwork·Brief
Lindy Crewe's CAARI team closed its season at the village north of Paphos, where a 4 m oven yielded charred wheat and terebinth in 2025.
Source: Cyprus Mail: Excavations at Kissonerga uncover one of Cyprus' oldest Bronze Age settlements
Research·Brief
A study of two cemeteries finds more dental disease among the dead of Ktima, the upper town, than in the Eastern Necropolis outside the walls of the ancient city.
Source: Ioannou, G.: Dental disease and dietary differences in populations of Nea Paphos, Cyprus, during the Hellenistic (312–58 BC) and Roman (58 BC–395 AD) periods. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 36.4, 1087–1099
Heritage crime·Brief
The objects came back in eight handovers in France, Britain, the United States and Canada between December 2025 and June 2026, six of them after auction houses withdrew the lots.
Source: Department of Antiquities: Repatriation of a Cypriot antiquity from the Republic of France
Heritage crime·Brief
Pottery and limestone figurines from the Early Bronze Age to the medieval period, given up by the heirs of Christos Zacharakis, were handed over at the Cyprus Museum on 1 June.
Source: Deputy Ministry of Culture: Repatriation of 48 Cypriot antiquities from the Hellenic Republic
Fieldwork·Brief
Fallen roof tiles covered a tiled floor east of the wall, and a trench above an Archaic fortification yielded Iron Age figurines and pottery.
Source: Deputy Ministry of Culture, Department of Antiquities: Completion of the second excavation season of the west terrace of the Acropolis of Amathous
Fieldwork·Brief
Terracotta feet on some of the limestone bases are the first sign in Cyprus that clay figures were given stone pedestals, the Department of Antiquities said.
Source: Deputy Ministry of Culture: Completion of the archaeological excavation campaign at the Sanctuary of Apollo at Frangissa, in Pera Oreinis Community
Research·Brief
Bones of at least 55 rock doves from the harbour town on the Larnaca Salt Lake carry nitrogen values close to those of people, a paper in Antiquity reports.
Source: Antiquity: Carter et al., Uncovering the lives of rock doves (Columba livia) in Late Bronze Age Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus (2026)
Fieldwork·Brief
Only two of the graves at Makounta-Voules/Mersinoudia still held objects: beads of shell, picrolite, faience and quartz in one, copper spirals and wire in the other.
Source: Department of Antiquities, Completion of the excavation by the North Carolina State University at Makounta–Voules/Mersinoudia
Books·Brief
John R. Hilton wrote up his 1934–36 posting some forty years later from family letters. Nicholas Stanley-Price has edited it for Archaeopress.
Source: Archaeopress: Colonial Intrigues and My Dismissal as Director of Antiquities
Research·Brief
Per kilo and kilometre, canoes used under 10 kJ against 20–50 kJ on foot between Chlorakas-Palloures and Makounta-Voules, two villages that traded storage jars.
Source: Klinkenberg and Polidorou, Seafaring in the Shadows: Maritime Traditions of Chalcolithic Cyprus, Journal of Maritime Archaeology 21 (2026), article 15
Research·Brief
Nine diadems and two mouth-pieces from Late Bronze Age family tombs mix Egyptian, Aegean and Near Eastern motifs; the heavier ones show wear from use in life.
Source: Oxford Journal of Archaeology: Fischer, Cultural fusion in Late Bronze Age goldwork: diadems and mouth-pieces from Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus (2026)
Fieldwork·Brief
The October 2025 season at Drouseia-Skloinikia also yielded beads and worked bone and shell, and divers began surveying a reef that was dry land when the site was in use.
Source: Department of Antiquities: Completion of the archaeological excavation at the site of Drouseia-Skloinikia in the Akamas Peninsula
Fieldwork·Brief
A Rhodian amphora handle of about 117 BCE dates the rooms at Maloutena; in the agora the Polish team found a settling basin and part of an older colonnade.
Source: Department of Antiquities, Cyprus: Completion of the joint expedition of the Warsaw and Jagiellonian Universities in Nea Pafos
Fieldwork·Brief
Used by families for generations, two tomb chambers of about the 14th century BCE near Larnaca were sealed by fallen roofs and held pottery from Crete, Greece and Sardinia.
Source: Department of Antiquities, Cyprus: Excavations at the extraurban cemetery of the Late Bronze Age harbour city of Dromolaxia-Vyzakia
Fieldwork·Brief
A University of Graz survey in October 2025 also picked up a Middle Cypriot jug handle, a gaming stone and Roman pottery around the village.
Source: Department of Antiquities, Cyprus: Graz Amargeti Survey Project
Fieldwork·Brief
In 2025 the Copenhagen and Uppsala Life at the Furnace team also excavated plastered basins and cisterns on three terraces at Agia Marina Xyliatou-Mavrovouni.
Source: Department of Antiquities, Cyprus: Life at the Furnace 2025 season (release)
Fieldwork·Brief
New York University's 2025 season near Pegeia recorded 68 red-ink inscriptions on the 6th-century jars and studied a Hellenistic and Roman rock-cut tomb.
Source: Department of Antiquities, Cyprus: Completion of the archaeological excavation at Agios Georgios, Pegeia
