Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Archaeologist · Excavator · Cataloguer

Jean Deshayes

fl. 1952–1965 · France

French archaeologist who assisted Jean Bérard at Ktima (Paphos) in the 1950s and published the Iskender cemetery in La nécropole de Ktima (1963); the finds went to the Louvre.

Biography

Jean Deshayes published the tombs of the Iskender cemetery at Ktima, near Paphos, in La nécropole de Ktima (1963), the report of Jean Bérard's mission there8. In February 1952 Terence Mitford wrote that he had asked Jean Bérard to bring Deshayes, whom he did not know, from the French School at Athens. Mitford described him as having a Minoan and Mycenaean background and three years at Mallia2. Bérard wrote that he would probably come to second him because of Bérard's failing eyesight2.

The "French Mission in Ktima" of Bérard and Deshayes received a licence, and in its first season at Kato Paphos it worked as an annex of the Kouklia Expedition3. From 1953 the work moved to the Iskender cemetery. Megaw's report for 1953 says that Bérard, "assisted by J. Deshayes", excavated tombs with large stepped dromoi of the 11th to 8th centuries, the earliest material then known from the Nea Paphos region4. In 1954 they dug three more dromoi and some child graves5. The publication gives the mission's years as 1953-55, while Coldstream gives 1952-557,8. Coldstream called the book a thoughtful publication that extended the typology of the Swedish Cyprus Expedition and defined a West Cypriot pottery element7.

The Ktima finds were the last to enter a French museum, the Louvre, before the division law was repealed. The crates were opened in transit and the vases damaged, and members of the mission restored them in the Louvre stores6. Nothing is recorded of Deshayes's dates of birth and death.

Life and work

  1. February 1952
    Mitford reports he had asked Bérard in Paris to bring 'one Deshayes, unknown to me but a man with a good Minoan/Mycenaean background and three years' excavation experience at Mallia' from the French School at Athens; Bérard had himself written that Deshayes, who had dug at Mallia with Chapouthier, would probably come to second him because of Bérard's poor eyesight.

    Paris / CyprusHermary 2008

  2. June 1952
    Took part with Bérard in the Nea Paphos soundings of the Kouklia Expedition programme, the French team appearing, in Maier's words, 'a kind of annex of the Kouklia Expedition'. Mitford's diary records Bérard and Deshayes inspecting the Kouklia 'roadstead' and surveying the area east of the Tombs of the Kings with Mitford and Chittick.

    Nea PaphosMaier 2008Hermary 2008

  3. 1953
    Assisted Bérard in excavating a number of Geometric tombs (11th-8th c.) with large stepped dromoi in the Iskender cemetery, Ktima; the pottery and metal finds were the earliest known material from the Nea Paphos region.

    KtimaMegaw 1954

  4. 1953–1955
    Finds of the Bérard-Deshayes mission went to the Louvre under the division law and were the last Cypriot finds to reach a French museum before that law was repealed; Suzanne Bérard recounted that the crates were opened on the way and vases damaged, then restored in the Louvre stores by mission members.

    ParisCaubet 1993

  5. 1954
    Again aided Bérard in a further campaign at Iskender: three more Geometric dromoi and chambers, niches in the dromoi, small child graves.

    KtimaMegaw 1954

  6. 1963
    Published La nécropole de Ktima (Mission Jean Bérard 1953-55), with the collaboration of B.C.S. Wilson; praised by Coldstream's review of Kinyras as a thoughtful publication that expanded the SCE typology and helped define a West Cypriot regional element in the pottery.

    Coldstream 1995Karageorghis 1983

  7. from 1963
    Karageorghis, who succeeded Dikaios as Director of the Department of Antiquities in 1963, records that Bérard and Deshayes often visited his and Jacqueline's house, which became an 'embassy of archaeology' for French colleagues.

    NicosiaKarageorghis 2015

Connections

7 people
Jean BérardPavlosB. C. S. WilsonVassos KarageorghisTerence Bruce MitfordMarguerite YonMadeleine Rocher-JauneauJean Deshayes
FieldworkScholarshipColleagues

Fieldwork & employment

Scholarship

Colleagues & contacts

Sources

  1. 1.Jean Deshayes (1963). La nécropole de Ktima (Mission Jean Bérard 1953-55). Paris, Geuthner.
  2. 2.A. Hermary (2008). “Les recherches de Jean Bérard à Chypre (1950-1953): la correspondance, archives du Département des Antiquités de Chypre et de l'École Française de Rome”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 38, 33-52.
  3. 3.F. G. Maier (2008). “Archaeology in Cyprus in the Fifties: Jean Bérard's work at Nea Paphos in context”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 38, 53-62.
  4. 4.A. H. S. Megaw (1954). “Archaeology in Cyprus, 1953”. Journal of Hellenic Studies 74. Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies.
  5. 5.A. H. S. Megaw (1954). “Archaeology in Cyprus, 1954”. Archaeological Reports 1, 28-34. Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies.
  6. 6.Annie Caubet (1993). “Les antiquités chypriotes au Musée du Louvre”. Kinyras : l'archéologie française à Chypre. Lyon. Online
  7. 7.J. N. Coldstream (1995). “Review of M. Yon (ed.), Kinyras: l'archéologie française à Chypre”. Journal of Hellenic Studies 115.
  8. 8.V. Karageorghis (1983). Palaepaphos-Skales: An Iron Age Cemetery in Cyprus.
  9. 9.V. Karageorghis (2015). “Aspects peu connus de la contribution de Jacqueline Karageorghis à l'archéologie chypriote”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 45, 1-5.
  10. 10.J. L. Benson (1973). The Necropolis of Kaloriziki, excavated by J. F. Daniel and G. H. McFadden for the University Museum, University of Pennsylvania.