Archaeologist · Excavator · Scholar

Diane Bolger

Diane L. Bolger

b. 1956 · United Kingdom

Wrote the 1988 study of the Chalcolithic settlement at Erimi-Pamboula and, with Lindy Crewe, completed the 2019 final report on Souskiou-Laona after Edgar Peltenburg's death in 2016.

Biography

When Edgar J. Peltenburg died in 2016, the final report on the Chalcolithic settlement and cemetery at Souskiou-Laona lacked only its concluding chapter, and Diane L. Bolger and Lindy Crewe wrote it¹. Bolger had by then published on the Philia culture and the Chalcolithic potters of Erimi for more than thirty years³.

Her earliest article, in the Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, treated Khrysiliou-Ammos, Nicosia-Ayia Paraskevi and the Philia culture³. Two years later she published "From Typology to Ethnology: Techniques of the Erimi Potters"⁴. In 1986 she wrote the section on the pottery of the Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age transition in the preliminary report on the 1985 season at Kissonerga-Mosphilia by Peltenburg and others².

Her first book, Erimi-Pamboula: A Chalcolithic Settlement in Cyprus (British Archaeological Reports International Series 443, Oxford, 1988)^2,5. A year later she contributed "Regionalism, cultural variation and the culture-area concept" to Peltenburg's edited volume Early Society in Cyprus². A paper of 1987 on whether there was a distinct western Cyprus appears in the bibliography of the Western Cyprus Project's 1992 field season¹⁵.

In 1991 she edited, with J. A. Barlow and Barbara Kling, Cypriot Ceramics: Reading the Prehistoric Record, published by the University Museum in Philadelphia². In 1998 she was one of five authors of the pottery chapter in the Lemba Archaeological Project's report on Kissonerga-Mosphilia, 1979 to 1992, with Louise C. Maguire and three others¹⁴. With Carole McCartney and Peltenburg she published the Lemba project's survey of western Cyprus in 2004¹⁴.

Gender and the island

Bolger also wrote on women and gender. With Nancy Serwint she edited Engendering Aphrodite: Women and Society in Ancient Cyprus (2002), issued as ASOR Archaeological Reports 7 and CAARI Monograph Series 3⁷. Her own book, Gender in Ancient Cyprus: Narratives of Social Change on a Mediterranean Island, followed from Altamira Press in 2003⁶.

Souskiou-Laona

Excavation at Souskiou-Laona ran for eleven field seasons between 2001 and 2011, with four more years of post-excavation study from 2012 to 2015. The cemetery, designated Operation C, occupied six seasons between 2001 and 2006, and the settlement, Operation A, produced 27 Chalcolithic buildings in the seasons of 2006 to 2011¹. A specialist contributor to the final report thanks "Dr Diane Bolger" among the staff of the settlement excavations¹.

In 2010 she co-edited with Louise Maguire The Development of Pre-State Communities in the Ancient Near East, a volume of studies in honour of Peltenburg published by Oxbow¹².

The Souskiou report appeared in 2019 as Figurine Makers of Prehistoric Cyprus: Settlement and Cemeteries at Souskiou, edited by Peltenburg, Bolger and Crewe. Their preface is signed at Nicosia in May 2019¹.

Life and work

1985
Published 'From Typology to Ethnology: Techniques of the Erimi Potters', RDAC 1985, 22-36.
Barlow et al. 1991, p. 43
1986
Wrote the chalcolithic/Early Bronze transition pottery section in the preliminary report on Kissonerga-Mosphilia 1985 (Peltenburg et al., RDAC).
KissonergaBarlow et al. 1991, p. 43
1988
Published Erimi-Pamboula: A Chalcolithic Settlement in Cyprus (BAR International Series 443), a reassessment of the Erimi settlement.
OxfordBarlow et al. 1991, p. 43
1991
Co-edited with J. A. Barlow and B. Kling Cypriot Ceramics: Reading the Prehistoric Record (University Museum, Philadelphia); contributed the Early-Middle Cypriot/Chalcolithic chapter (cited by Csornay as Bolger in Cypriot Ceramics 1991, 29-3x).
PhiladelphiaDissinger 2017 Csornay-Caprez 2000
1992
Western Cyprus Project 1992 field-study bibliography cites Bolger 1987 'Is There a Western Cyprus?' (survey context of the Lemba Archaeological Project).
Paphos regionThe Western Cyprus Project… 1992, p. 32
2001–2011
Eleven field seasons at Souskiou-Laona (settlement and cemetery); Bolger and Crewe edited the final report with Peltenburg. Settlement excavations (Operation A) 2006-2011 revealed 27 Chalcolithic buildings and possible structures; cemetery (Operation C) took six seasons 2001-2006. Bolger is thanked in a specialist's acknowledgement as a member of the settlement excavation staff.
Souskiou, PaphosPeltenburg et al. 2019, p. 7 Peltenburg et al. 2019
2002
Co-edited Engendering Aphrodite: Women and Society in Ancient Cyprus (ASOR Archaeological Reports 7; CAARI Monograph 3) with Nancy Serwint.
BostonChilds et al. 2012
2003
Published Gender in Ancient Cyprus: Narratives of Social Change on a Mediterranean Island (Altamira, Walnut Creek).
Walnut CreekToumazou et al. 2011
2010
Co-edited with L. Maguire The Development of Pre-State Communities in the Ancient Near East: Studies in Honour of Edgar Peltenburg (BANEA 2, Oxbow).
OxfordGiven 2025 Strontium isotopes and human…
2019
Co-edited with E. Peltenburg (d. 2016) and L. Crewe Figurine Makers of Prehistoric Cyprus: Settlement and Cemeteries at Souskiou (Oxbow); preface signed Nicosia, May 2019.
OxfordPeltenburg et al. 2019, p. 7

Connections

12 people

FamilyFieldworkScholarshipColleagues

Family

Married to Edgar J. Peltenburg

Fieldwork & employment

Excavated with Gordon Thomas1986

Scholarship

Wrote with Gordon Thomas1988
Published material of Porphyrios Dikaios1988
Wrote with Barbara Kling1991
Wrote with Jane A. Barlow1991
Wrote with John Walsh1991
Wrote with Matthew J. Ponting1992–1994
Wrote with Louise Maguire1998–2010
Wrote with Nancy Serwint2002
Wrote with Carole McCartney2004
Wrote with Edgar J. Peltenburg2019
Wrote with Lindy Crewe2019

Colleagues & contacts

Worked with Edgar J. Peltenburg1986–2016
Worked with Vassos Karageorghis2010

Discussed in documents

Karageorghis (1991). The Coroplastic Art of Ancient Cyprus I: Chalcolithic–Late Cypriote IStudied figurines and manufacturing techniques
Merrillees (1991). The principles of Cypriot Bronze Age pottery classificationUsed two classifications concurrently
Peltenburg (1991). Local exchange in prehistoric Cyprus: An initial assessment of picroliteInterprets picrolite exploitation at Erimi
Rupp et al. (1999). Prastio: Agios Savvas tis Karonis Monastery (Pafos District, Cyprus): 1994–1995 field season and 1992–1995 artifact analysesInterpreted Chalcolithic settlement relations
Webb and Frankel (1999). Characterizing the Philia Facies: Material Culture, Chronology, and the Origin of the Bronze Age in CyprusProposed a grouping of early red wares
Webb (2002). Engendering the built environment: Household and community in prehistoric Bronze Age CyprusDiscusses prehistoric Cypriot gender relations
Knapp (2009). Representations: Female figurines and social identity on protohistoric CyprusQuestions deity interpretations
Budin (2011). Images of Woman and Child from the Bronze Age: Reconsidering Fertility, Maternity, and Gender in the Ancient WorldInterprets Cypriot figurines and gender
Steel (2013). The social world of Early-Middle Bronze Age Cyprus: rethinking the Vounous BowlWrote on gender and social organization
Webb (2013). Cyprus during the Early Bronze AgeArgued for complex cultural interaction
Philip (2016). Edgar Peltenburg (1942-2016)Archaeologist and partner in fieldwork
Webb (2016). Women at home and in the community in prehistoric Bronze Age CyprusProposes an emerging patriarchal family
Knox (2017). Mediterranean — CyprusInterpreted figurines and social organisation
Düring (2023). Reconsidering Cruciform Figurines of Chalcolithic CyprusLinked the figurines to childbirth

Also named in

Clarke (1992). The Ceramic Neolithic Period in Northern Cyprus
Caubet and Thomas (2016). In memoriam, Edgar J. Peltenburg

On Ancient Cyprus

5 pages

The Bull Was a Newcomer: A Two-Headed Bronze Age Vase from CyprusArticle
The Red Polished WorldArticle
Neolithic and Chalcolithic Burial in CyprusCompendium
Red-on-White WareCompendium
Village Life in Early Bronze Age CyprusCompendium

Sources

1.E. Peltenburg (ed.), D. Bolger (ed.), L. Crewe (ed.) (2019). Figurine Makers of Prehistoric Cyprus: Settlement and Cemeteries at Souskiou. Oxford, Oxbow Books.
2.J. A. Barlow (ed.), D. L. Bolger (ed.), B. Kling (ed.) (1991). Cypriot Ceramics: Reading the Prehistoric Record. Philadelphia, University Museum.
3.Diane Bolger (1983). “Khrysiliou-Ammos, Nicosia-Ayia Paraskevi and the Philia Culture of Cyprus”. RDAC, 60-73.
4.Diane Bolger (1985). “From Typology to Ethnology: Techniques of the Erimi Potters”. RDAC, 22-36.
5.Diane Bolger (1988). Erimi-Pamboula: A Chalcolithic Settlement in Cyprus. Oxford.
6.Diane Bolger (2003). Gender in Ancient Cyprus: Narratives of Social Change on a Mediterranean Island. Walnut Creek, Altamira.
7.D. Bolger (ed.), N. Serwint (ed.) (2002). Engendering Aphrodite: Women and Society in Ancient Cyprus. Boston, American Schools of Oriental Research.
8.W. A. P. Childs (ed.), J. S. Smith (ed.), J. M. Padgett (ed.) (2012). City of Gold: The Archaeology of Polis Chrysochous, Cyprus. Princeton, Princeton University Art Museum.
9.M. K. Toumazou (ed.), P. N. Kardulias (ed.), D. B. Counts (ed.) (2011). Crossroads and Boundaries: The Archaeology of Past and Present in the Malloura Valley, Cyprus.
10.Alicia Marie Dissinger (2017). “Cypro-Archaic Bird Iconography: Types, Uses, and Meanings”. University of Virginia.
11.Boldizsár Csornay-Caprez (2000). Cypriote Antiquities. Rome, L'Erma di Bretschneider.
12.Michael Given (2025). “Over the landscape, in the landscape? Knowledge and agency in Cypriot archaeology, 1870-1910”. Empire & Excavation: Critical perspectives on archaeology in British-period Cyprus, 1878-1960. Leiden, Sidestone Press.
13.“Strontium isotopes and human mobility in ... (bibliography)”. Online
14.Christine Winkelmann (2020). The Neolithic and Chalcolithic Figurines of Cyprus. Münster, Zaphon.
15. (1992). “The Western Cyprus Project 1992 Field Season (bibliography)”. Online
16.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
17.V. Karageorghis, D. C. Severis (2010). The Severis Collection of Cypriote Antiquities. Nicosia, A. G. Leventis Foundation.