Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Curator · Excavator · Cataloguer · Photographer

Arthur Hamilton Smith

1860–1941 · United Kingdom

British Museum curator who supervised the first Turner Bequest dig at Amathus in 1893-94, finished the Enkomi season in 1896, and co-authored Excavations in Cyprus (1900).

Biography

Arthur Hamilton Smith, a British Museum curator, superintended the opening of the Turner Bequest excavations at Amathus in 1893. Born in 1860, he joined the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities in April 1885 under Charles Newton and then Alexander Stuart Murray, became Assistant Keeper in 1904 and Keeper in 1909, and held the post until 19253. He died in 19411.

At Amathus he took charge from the start of the season in autumn 1893 until mid-January 1894. He kept the notebook "Notes at Amathus 1893-4", made a schematic record of about 100 tombs and took photographs, almost all now lost. John Linton Myres then took over and recorded tombs 100 to 312 in more detail. Both men discarded or sold plain pottery and duplicates rather than keep tomb groups together1,2. His diary was later used to correct the description of Amathus tombs 1-110 in the 1899 Cyprus Museum catalogue5.

In 1896 Murray directed the Enkomi excavation from late March to early May, and Percy Christian followed until July. The 1899 catalogue says that Smith joined Christian and carried the work on without interruption until September1,5. His notebook "Notes at Enkomi 1896" survives in the British Museum1. With Murray and Henry Beauchamp Walters he wrote Excavations in Cyprus (1900)3.

The report on the British Museum's acquisitions of 1910 in the Archäologischer Anzeiger for 1911, cited as by A. H. Smith, records the Tamassos limestone figures and terracottas from Falkland Warren12. Buchholz dates to 18 January 1913 a letter in which Max Ohnefalsch-Richter asked Smith about the Tamassos finds that had become museum property7.

Life and work

  1. April 1885
    Joined the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities as an Assistant, first under Sir Charles Newton and then under A. S. Murray.

    LondonTatton-Brown 2001, p. 168

  2. October 1893 – January 1894
    Superintended the first Turner Bequest season, the Amathus cemeteries, from the start until mid-January 1894 (JHG gives November 1893 to January 1894; Ulbrich & Kiely October 1893 start). Kept the notebook 'Notes at Amathus 1893-4' (about 71 numbered pages) and made a schematic record of the first c. 100 tombs, plus photographs now virtually all lost. The BM's local agents were based in Limassol.

    AmathusNikolaou 2017, p. 5-6Ulbrich & Kiely 2012

  3. 23 December 1893
    Smith's notebook records the second of the built tombs (no. 79) discovered on Saturday 23 December; he also reported to Murray that the excavation was interrupted only on 13 January (Greek New Year).

    AmathusNikolaou 2017, p. 10Nikolaou 2017, p. 12

  4. January 1894
    Handed the Amathus supervision to J. L. Myres (seconded from the British School at Athens), who recorded tombs 100 to 312 in more detail; Myres and Smith both discarded or sold plain pottery and 'duplicates' rather than keep tomb groups together.

    AmathusNikolaou 2017, p. 5-6Ulbrich & Kiely 2012

  5. July–September 1896
    Took over the Enkomi (Ayios Sergios) excavation from Percy Christian (Murray had led from late March to early May, Christian then until July) and carried it on 'uninterruptedly' to September 1896. His notebook 'Notes at Enkomi 1896' (about 140 pages) survives; the bound 'Excavations at Enkomi' volume holds Murray's reports (tombs 1-37) and Christian's (38-100). Smith's own heading '[Tombs 1-37 by A. H. Smith]' appears in Tatton-Brown's transcription.

    EnkomiNikolaou 2017, p. 7-8Tatton-Brown 2003Myres & Ohnefalsch-Richter 1899, p. 183

  6. August 1896
    A British expedition under Smith excavated a large tumulus at Salamis ('tombe 3') in August 1896; it proved plundered. The plan of 1896 later guided the Lyon mission's re-investigation (1964).

    SalamisKarageorghis 1965Nicolaou 1966

  7. 1899
    Smith's diary of the Amathus dig was used to revise the Cyprus Museum Catalogue's description of Amathus tombs 1-110 (the Romaic inventory being 'quite worthless'); the Catalogue's preface also thanks him for help with correction.

    NicosiaMyres & Ohnefalsch-Richter 1899, p. 176Myres & Ohnefalsch-Richter 1899

  8. 1900
    Co-author of Excavations in Cyprus (London, 1900), the BM's report on the Turner Bequest digs (Murray on Enkomi pp. 1-54, Walters on Curium pp. 57-86). His schematic Amathus account of the tomb groups allocated to the BM omits much of Myres's detail.

    LondonTatton-Brown 2001Ulbrich & Kiely 2012

  9. 1904
    Promoted Assistant Keeper; Keeper of Greek and Roman Antiquities from 1909 to 1925.

    LondonTatton-Brown 2001, p. 168

  10. 1910
    As author of the BM's report on acquisitions of 1910 (AA 1911) he recorded the receipt of Falkland Warren's Tamassos (Frangissa) limestone figures and related terracottas and a Geometric vase, long on deposit.

    LondonTatton-Brown 2001

  11. 1912–1913
    Max Ohnefalsch-Richter wrote to Smith (letter published by Fivel/Masson, CCEC 21, 1994) about his 1912 complaint that plans and drawings he had sent to Newton had vanished, and on 18 January 1913 asked for information on the Tamassos finds that had become BM property, including two stone heads and two terracotta quadrigas from Frangissa-Tamassos acquired from Colonel Warren.

    Buchholz 1991, p. 6Tatton-Brown 2001

  12. 1925–1926
    Author of Corpus Vasorum Antiquarum, Great Britain 1 (British Museum 1), fascicule 1 (1925) and, with Pryce, fascicule 2 (1926), which include Cypriot pieces.

    LondonKiely 2017

  13. 28 September 1941
    Died 28 September 1941 per the Wikidata record (tertiary); sources on disk give only 1941.

    Arthur Hamilton Smith (1860-1941),…

Connections

7 people
Falkland WarrenJohn Linton MyresAlexander Stuart MurrayMax Ohnefalsch-RichterHenry Beauchamp WaltersJohn William WilliamsonPercy ChristianArthur Hamilton Smith
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On Ancient Cyprus

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Sources

  1. 1.Polina Nikolaou (2017). “Authoring the ancient sites of Cyprus in the late nineteenth century: the British Museum excavation notebooks, 1893-1896”. Journal of Historical Geography 57. Online
  2. 2.Anja Ulbrich, Thomas Kiely (2012). “Britain and the Archaeology of Cyprus. I. The long 19th century”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 42. Online
  3. 3.Veronica Tatton-Brown (ed.) (2001). Cyprus in the 19th Century AD: Fact, Fancy and Fiction. Oxford, Oxbow.
  4. 4.Veronica Tatton-Brown (2003). “Enkomi: The Notebook in the British Museum”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 33, 9-66. Online
  5. 5.J. L. Myres, M. Ohnefalsch-Richter (1899). A Catalogue of the Cyprus Museum. Oxford, Clarendon Press.
  6. 6.T. Kiely (2017). “Britain and the archaeology of Cyprus II: 1914 to the present day”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 47, 253-310. Online
  7. 7.Hans-Günter Buchholz (1991). “Tamassos-Phrangissa (1885)”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 16, 3-15.
  8. 8.V. Karageorghis (1965). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1964”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 89.
  9. 9.K. Nicolaou (1966). “Archaeology in Cyprus, 1961-66”. Archaeological Reports 12, 27-43. Online
  10. 10.Arthur Hamilton Smith (1860-1941), Wikidata Q15961901 / GND 117634212. Online
  11. 11.A. S. Murray, A. H. Smith, H. B. Walters (1900). Excavations in Cyprus: Bequest of Miss E. T. Turner to the British Museum. London, Trustees of the British Museum.
  12. 12.A. H. Smith (1911). “Erwerbungen des British Museum im Jahre 1910”. Archäologischer Anzeiger, 456-.