Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Excavator · Scholar · Archaeologist

T. F. Watkins

fl. 1965–2007 · United Kingdom

Prehistorian who led the 1965-70 excavations of the Ceramic Neolithic settlement at Philia-Drakos, first for Birmingham and then for Edinburgh.

Biography

Trevor Watkins directed five seasons at Philia-Drakos, a Neolithic settlement in Nicosia district, between 1965 and 1970. The first, a trial excavation from 3 August to 20 September 1965, was run by the Birmingham archaeology section under P. S. Gelling and Watkins, and found rock-cut shafts, chambers and tunnels below the site1,4. Thomas Kiely writes that the project grew out of a search for sites bearing on early metallurgy, following Watkins's doctoral research11.

The second season, from 30 August to 29 September 1967, was under Gelling and Watkins for Edinburgh and Birmingham, and Watkins wrote its report5,9. Kiely places him at Edinburgh from 1966. The third season (26 August to 27 September 1968), the fourth (1969) and the fifth (29 June to 7 August 1970) were directed by Watkins for Edinburgh's Department of Archaeology6,7,8. The 1968 season opened 250 square metres more and proposed four occupation periods, the earliest with dark burnished ware; in 1969 over 15,000 sherds were studied statistically6,7. The excavation found the first Neolithic chamber tomb in Cyprus, with two skeletons, and traced an early perimeter wall and ditch3. He published the pottery and stratigraphy as "Philia-Drakos Site A" in the Report of the Department of Antiquities in 197013.

In the 1990s he and Eddie Peltenburg supervised Müge Şevketoğlu's Edinburgh doctoral thesis on Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites in the Kyrenia district12,15.

Life and work

  1. 3 August 1965 – 20 September 1965
    Trial excavation at Philia-Drakos by the Birmingham archaeology section under P. S. Gelling and Watkins; found rock-cut shafts, chambers and tunnels below the settlement.

    PhiliaKarageorghis 1966Nicolaou 1966

  2. 30 August 1967 – 29 September 1967
    Second season at Drakos, British mission sponsored by Edinburgh and Birmingham, directed by Gelling and Watkins; Watkins wrote the season report; two underground rock-cut structures excavated, and earlier pottery found on the bedrock.

    PhiliaKarageorghis 1968Nicolaou 1968

  3. 26 August 1968 – 27 September 1968
    Third season, Edinburgh Department of Archaeology under Watkins; 250 m2 more opened; four occupation periods proposed, the earliest with dark burnished ware.

    PhiliaKarageorghis 1969Nicolaou 1970

  4. 1969
    Fourth campaign, Edinburgh, directed by Watkins; about 250 m2 dug and over 15,000 sherds studied statistically.

    PhiliaKarageorghis 1970

  5. 1969–1970
    The British expedition of the University of Edinburgh under Dr T. F. Watkins found the first Neolithic chamber tomb in Cyprus (two skeletons, a few sherds) and traced the early perimeter wall and ditch.

    PhiliaNicolaou 1976

  6. 1970
    Fifth and final season, 29 June to 7 August; trenches on the west edge found the early wall and ditch; Malcolm Murray, assisted by Watkins as excavation director, made a detailed survey of the ground in the last two weeks of March.

    PhiliaKarageorghis 1971

  7. 1970
    Published 'Philia-Drakos Site A: Pottery, Stratigraphy, Chronology' in RDAC 1970, pp. 1-9.

    Watkins 1970, pp. 1-9

  8. 1999
    Co-supervised, with Eddie Peltenburg, Müge Şevketoğlu's Edinburgh dissertation on prehistoric surveys in the Kyrenia district.

    EdinburghSummerer 2023Şevketoğlu 1998

Connections

4 people
P. S. GellingMalcolm MurrayMüge Hüseyin ŞevketoğluEdgar J. PeltenburgT. F. Watkins
FieldworkScholarshipColleagues

Fieldwork & employment

Scholarship

Colleagues & contacts

On Ancient Cyprus

4 pages

Sources

  1. 1.K. Nicolaou (1966). “Archaeology in Cyprus, 1961-66”. Archaeological Reports 12, 27-43. Online
  2. 2.K. Nicolaou (1969). “Archaeology in Cyprus, 1966-69”. Archaeological Reports 15, 40-54.
  3. 3.K. Nicolaou (1976). “Archaeology in Cyprus, 1969-76”. Archaeological Reports 22.
  4. 4.V. Karageorghis (1966). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1965”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 90.
  5. 5.V. Karageorghis (1968). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1967”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 92.
  6. 6.V. Karageorghis (1969). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1968”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 93.
  7. 7.V. Karageorghis (1970). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1969”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 94.
  8. 8.V. Karageorghis (1971). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1970”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 95.
  9. 9.Kyriakos Nicolaou (1968). “Archaeological News from Cyprus, 1967”. American Journal of Archaeology 72, 369-380.
  10. 10.Kyriakos Nicolaou (1970). “Archaeological News from Cyprus, 1968”. American Journal of Archaeology 74, 71-78.
  11. 11.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
  12. 12.Lâtife Summerer (2023). “In Fear of Blacklisting. How the Division Shaped Archaeology in Cyprus”. New Approaches toward Recording, Preserving and Studying Cultural Heritage in Divided Cyprus. Kyrenia, ARUCAD Press.
  13. 13.T. F. Watkins (1970). “Philia-Drakos Site A: Pottery, Stratigraphy, Chronology”. Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, 1-9.
  14. 14.Trevor Watkins (1969). “The first village settlement”. Archaeologia Viva 2, 29-52.
  15. 15.Müge Hüseyin Şevketoğlu (1998). “Archaeological Field Survey of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic Settlement Sites in Kyrenia District, North Cyprus: Systematic Surface Collection and the Interpretation of Artefact Scatters”. PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh.