Antiquities official · Excavator · Scholar

Sophocles Hadjisavvas

b. 1944 · Cyprus

Archaeologist of the Cyprus Department of Antiquities who excavated the Tombs of the Kings at Nea Paphos from 1977 and the Alassa sites, and was Director of the Department from 1997 to 2004.

Biography

In 1977 the Department of Antiquities opened its first season at the Tombs of the Kings at Nea Paphos, and the man who directed it, Sophocles Hadjisavvas, went on to run the Department itself^1,2. Wikipedia gives his birth as 1944 at Kakopetria. It says he studied archaeology and history at Sofia from 1965 to 1970, went on to Cambridge, where he worked with Colin Renfrew, and took museum studies at University College London¹. He joined the Department in 1973¹.

Paphos and the rescue seasons

The first season at the Tombs of the Kings cleared twenty shaft graves⁸. Vassos Karageorghis's yearly chronicle of excavations in Cyprus credits Hadjisavvas with directing the first six campaigns, from 1977 to 1982^2,3,6,7.

His other work in these years was largely rescue digging in advance of building and road works. In March 1979 a necropolis at Ayios Georghios, Larnaca, was found during levelling and was excavated⁴. In 1980 the reports record rescue excavations at the sanctuary of Strovolos-Kokkines, at Mari-Kopetra, where an olive press came to light during the Nicosia-Limassol road works, and at Ayios Leontios near Achelia in the Paphos airport area⁵. He also explored the islet of Yeronisos for the Department in the early 1980s^7,9.

In the spring of 1980 he guided William A. P. Childs to candidate sites for a Princeton expedition, and the party settled on Polis tis Chrysochous¹².

Alassa and publications

At Alassa he directed the Department's excavations ahead of the dam. They produced a fifth-century Roman villa with mosaics, the site of Pano Mandilaris and, from 1991, Paliotaverna, where two monumental ashlar buildings of the Late Cypriot IIC period stood on either side of a street^9,10,11. His book on olive oil processing in Cyprus from the Bronze Age to the Byzantine period appeared in 1992 as number 99 in the SIMA series, and the 1995 survey of Cyprus in the American Journal of Archaeology noted it as a work of wide interest^11,16. In 1997 he wrote the section on the Khirokitia archaeological park printed at the end of Alain Le Brun's guide to the Neolithic site, published by the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation¹⁵.

Director of Antiquities

According to Wikipedia, he was Curator of Monuments from 1990 to 1997 and then succeeded Demos Christou as Director of the Department, serving until 2004, when Pavlos Flourentzos followed him¹. The order of the three directors is also given in the acknowledgements of City of Gold¹². The Athienou Archaeological Project, which dug at Malloura, thanked him among the successive Directors under whose permits it worked¹³.

In a chapter of 2001, "The destruction of the archaeological heritage of Cyprus", he wrote about the collections formed in Cyprus after 1974. S. Hardy quotes him as saying that all of them were "illegal in the sense that they all came from illicit excavations", and that more than 1,250 people had become collectors¹⁴. Hardy disputes the account of Turkish Cypriot looters supplying Greek Cypriot collectors that Hadjisavvas's chapter describes¹⁴. In 2015 he published "Perishing Heritage: The Case of the Occupied Part of Cyprus" in the Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies¹⁹.

Life and work

1977
First season of the Department of Antiquities excavation at the Tombs of the Kings necropolis, Nea Paphos (twenty shaft graves cleared), directed by Hadjisavvas; further campaigns directed by him annually (second 1978, third 1979, fourth 1980, fifth 1981, sixth 1982)
Nea PaphosKarageorghis 1978, p. 55 Nicolaou 1981, p. 18 Karageorghis 1979, p. 46 Karageorghis 1982 Karageorghis 1983
1979
Rescue excavation of a necropolis at Ayios Georghios, Larnaca, found during levelling in March 1979 (Wikipedia: Kition necropolis excavated 1979-84)
LarnacaKarageorghis 1980 Sophocles Hadjisavvas
1980
Rescue excavations at Strovolos-Kokkines (sanctuary), Mari-Kopetra (olive press found during the Nicosia-Limassol road works) and, in the Paphos airport area, Ayios Leontios near Achelia
Nicosia / PaphosKarageorghis 1981
1980
Acted as William Childs's guide in spring 1980 to candidate sites for a Princeton expedition, which settled on Polis tis Chrysochous
PolisChilds et al. 2012, p. xvi
1983–1985
Exploration of Yeronisos for the Department of Antiquities (AR 1981-85)
YeronisosSymons 1986-1987 Karageorghis 1983
1984–2000
Directed Department excavations at Alassa, a rescue project in advance of the Alassa dam: a 5th-century Roman villa with mosaics; Pano Mandilaris; from 1991 Paliotaverna, two monumental LC IIC ashlar buildings separated by a street (Wikipedia dates the Alassa project 1984-2000)
AlassaSymons 1986-1987 Steel 1997-1998 Herscher 1995
1990–2004
As successive Directors, including Hadjisavvas, the Department renewed permits for the Athienou Archaeological Project (Malloura), which thanks Karageorghis, Papageorgiou, Louloupis, Christou, Hadjisavvas, Flourentzos and Hadjicosti
AthienouToumazou et al. 2011
1992
Published Olive Oil Processing in Cyprus from the Bronze Age to the Byzantine Period (SIMA 99), noted in AR as a work of wide interest
Herscher 1995
1997
Succeeded Demos Christou as Director of the Department of Antiquities (Wikipedia: 1997, serving to 2004); succeeded in turn by Pavlos Flourentzos
NicosiaSophocles Hadjisavvas Childs et al. 2012
1997
Wrote the section on the Khirokitia archaeological park appended to Le Brun's guide, published by the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation
KhirokitiaBrun 1997, pp. 63-64
2001
In 'The destruction of the archaeological heritage of Cyprus' (Brodie, Doole & Renfrew eds, pp. 133-139) described the 'silent accord' collections as 'illegal in the sense that they all came from illicit excavations' and a system of 'Turkish [Cypriot] looters and Greek [Cypriot]... collectors'; Hardy (2014) cites >1250 people becoming collectors (ibid., p. 135)
Hardy 2014

Connections

9 people

FieldworkScholarshipColleagues

Discussed in documents

Barlow et al. (1991). Cypriot Ceramics: Reading the Prehistoric RecordReports the Alassa settlement sequence
Markides (1999). Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Cyprus on the List of World Cultural HeritageAuthor of the introductory essay
Kling (2000). Mycenaean IIIC:1b and related pottery in Cyprus. Comments on the current state of researchPublished Alassa pottery and proposed site connections
Winther-Jacobsen (2002). Cypriot transport amphorae in the Archaic and Classical periodDiscussed the importance of oil export
Manning et al. (2002). Late Cypriot IA maritime trade in action: Underwater survey at Maroni Tsaroukkas and the contemporary east Mediterranean trading systemProposed a harbour at Tsaroukkas
Buchholz and Matthäus (2003). Zyprische Bronzeschalen der geometrischen und archaischen Periode. Eine Studie zu Typologie, Chronologie, Epigraphik und kultureller Außenwirkung zyprischen Metallhandwerks des frühen ersten Jahrtausends v. Chr.Published finds from Eliomylia
Maier (2004). Guide to Palaipaphos (Kouklia)Contributor on Stillarka and oil production
Negbi (2005). Urbanism on Late Bronze Age Cyprus: LC II in retrospectStudied olive-oil production
Guimier-Sorbets and Michaelides (2009). Alexandrian Influences on the Architecture and Decoration of the Hellenistic Tombs of CyprusExcavated Tombs 6 and 8
Guimier-Sorbets (2009). L'iconographie des mosaïques hellénistiques de ChypreDescribed the Fabrika mosaic
Michaelides et al. (2009). Egypt and Cyprus in Antiquity: proceedings of the international conference, Nicosia, 3-6 April 2003Director of the Department of Antiquities
Fisher (2014). Investigating monumental social space in Late Bronze Age Cyprus: An integrative approachExcavator and author of Alassa reports
Andreou (2016). Understanding the rural economy of Late Bronze Age Cyprus: a diachronic perspective from the Vasilikos valleyWrote on rural populations and oil production

Also named in

Smith. Bringing Old Excavations to Life
Todd (1978). Vasilikos Valley Project: Second Preliminary Report, 1977
Keswani (1993). Models of local exchange in Late Bronze Age Cyprus
Herscher (1998). Archaeology in Cyprus
Manning et al. (2002). The Late Roman Church at Maroni Petrera: Survey and salvage excavations 1990-1997, and other traces of Roman remains in the lower Maroni Valley, Cyprus
Killian (2008). Hellenistic, Roman, and Medieval Phlamoudhi

On Ancient Cyprus

12 pages

Ashlar and the First Towns: the Late Bronze AgeArticle
From Colonial Bargains to Contested Heritage: Tracing the Price and Provenance of Cypriot Antiquities (1883-Present)Article
The First Villages: Round Houses of the NeolithicArticle
The Island With No Dark Age: Maria Iacovou and the Kingdoms of CyprusArticle
Vassos Karageorghis (1929–2021): The Maker of Modern Cypriot ArchaeologyArticle
AlassaSite
DheniaSite
Makronissos TombsSite
AmphoraCompendium
Earthquakes in Ancient CyprusCompendium
Food Storage in Ancient Cyprus: Pits, Pithoi and StoreroomsCompendium
Looting in Occupied Northern Cyprus after 1974Compendium

Sources

1.“Sophocles Hadjisavvas”. Wikipedia (en). Online
2.V. Karageorghis (1978). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1977”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 102.
3.V. Karageorghis (1979). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1978”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 103.
4.V. Karageorghis (1980). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1979”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 104.
5.V. Karageorghis (1981). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1980”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 105, 967-1024.
6.V. Karageorghis (1982). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1981”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 106.
7.V. Karageorghis (1983). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1982”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 107.
8.K. Nicolaou (1981). “Archaeology in Cyprus, 1976-80”. Archaeological Reports 27.
9.D. J. Symons (1986-1987). “Archaeology in Cyprus, 1981-85”. Archaeological Reports 33, 62-77.
10.Louise Steel (1997-1998). “Archaeology in Cyprus 1987-1997”. Archaeological Reports 44, 137-149.
11.Ellen Herscher (1995). “Archaeology in Cyprus”. American Journal of Archaeology 99, 257-294.
12.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.
13.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.
14.Samuel Andrew Hardy (2014). “Using Open-Source Data to Identify Participation in the Illicit Antiquities Trade: A Case Study on the Cypriot Civil War”. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research 20. Online
15.A. Le Brun (1997). Khirokitia: A Neolithic Site. Nicosia, Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation.
16.S. Hadjisavvas (1992). Olive Oil Processing in Cyprus from the Bronze Age to the Byzantine Period. Göteborg, Paul Åströms Förlag.
17.S. Hadjisavvas (1997). Agia Napa. Excavations at Makronisos and the Archaeology of the Region. Nicosia, Department of Antiquities.
18.S. Hadjisavvas (2001). “The destruction of the archaeological heritage of Cyprus”. Trade in Illicit Antiquities: The Destruction of the World's Archaeological Heritage, 133-139. Cambridge, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.
19.S. Hadjisavvas (2015). “Perishing Heritage: The Case of the Occupied Part of Cyprus”. Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies 3, 128-140.
20.S. Hadjisavvas (2012). The Phoenician Period Necropolis of Kition I. Nicosia, Department of Antiquities.