Search

A cornerstone of the management and conservation of archaeological sites is recording their physical characteristics. Documenting and describing the site is an essential step that allows for delineating the components of the site and for collecting and synthesizing information and documentation (Demas, 2012). The information produced by such work assists in the decision-making process for custodians, site managers, public officials, conservators, and other related experts. Rigorous documentation may also serve a broader purpose: over time, it becomes the primary archival and monitoring record. Both scholars and the public use this information and interpret the site, and they can serve as a posterity record in the event of catastrophic or gradual loss of the heritage asset. In May 2018 the Getty Conservation Institute and the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus collaborated with the Carleton Immersive Media Studio in undertaking the documentation of Nea Paphos, a World Heritage site with very important mosaic pavements in the eastern Mediterranean. This contribution outlines the critical components of the documentation project: field study, field measurements, data processing, validation, GIS, and integration of external data. The paper summarizes the digital workflows and procedures used to produce the deliverables, as well as the equipment and technology employed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of CEDRUS is the property of Mediterranean Civilisations Research Institute and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The aim of the paper is to extend the standard set of ceramic vessels used for thermal processing of food with two forms: jugs and colanders. The paper presents the functional analysis of ceramic jugs and colanders made of cooking ware found in early Roman layers of the residential quarter of ancient Nea Paphos, excavated by the Polish Archaeological Mission of Warsaw University at Kato Paphos. The examination is based on the shape of the vessels, the fabric, as well as on specific traces of use visible on the pots, such as mineral deposit on the inside or soot on the outside surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of this paper is a reconstruction of the architectural decoration of a façade of the House of Aion in Nea Paphos. During an excavation carried out in 1997 several pieces of decorated architectural elements were uncovered in room 19, among others the fragments of an arch, a lintel, an engaged column, an impost and two consoles. Those blocks served as a base for the reconstruction of the architectural frame of the main gateway. It took the form of a cantilevered, blind arcade of five spans erected above the main gate. Each span consisted of two engaged columns supporting an arch with a shallow niche underneath it, probably for a kind of decorative element. The reconstruction was based on similar architectural details known from the main room of the House of Aion, the Porta Aurea at the palace of Diocletian in Split, and the western façade of the Felix Romuliana Palace in Gamzigrad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 2014 season a late Hellenistic well was explored as part of the excavations on the Nea Paphos Agora. Many special finds, including ceramic vessels, iron and bronze items, and lamps were found. Moreover, on the bottom of the well a piece of textile attached to metal application was discovered. In our paper, we would like to present preliminary examination of that artefact, which is very uncommon considering the rarity of such remains in Cyprus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australian archaeological mission to Nea Paphos in Cyprus has begun exploring the remains of a structure to the rear of the cavea of the ancient theatre on the southeastern edge of the hill known as Fabrika. The preliminary results of this excavation suggest a significantly large post-medieval building constructed using stone taken from the former theatre. The building appears to have been used in some sort of industrial production, the precise nature of which is not yet determined, and is perhaps the source of the etymology of the name of the hill. This paper discusses a need for a reassessment of this area of the city of Nea Paphos in its more recent history, and discusses the needs for a better understanding of the urban relationship between Fabrika and the theatrical precinct during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In September 2008, over the course of excavations at the Early Roman House, the bust of a young man was discovered in Room 24. He is depicted with curly hair and is wearing a conical cap. The author of this paper discusses the possible identification of the sculpture. There are two differing ideas. According to the first, the young man could be identified as one of the Dioskouroi, while the other theory considers him to be Attis. The author does not determine conclusively which of the concepts is appropriate, because both are supported by strong evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring vegetation cover is an essential parameter for assessing various natural and anthropogenic hazards that occur at the vicinity of archaeological sites and landscapes. In this study, we used free and open access to Copernicus Earth Observation datasets. In particular, the proportion of vegetation cover is estimated from the analysis of Sentinel-1 radar and Sentinel-2 optical images, upon their radiometric and geometric corrections. Here, the proportion of vegetation based on the Radar Vegetation Index and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index is estimated. Due to the medium resolution of these datasets (10 m resolution), the crowdsourced OpenStreetMap service was used to identify fully and non-vegetated pixels. The case study is focused on the western part of Cyprus, whereas various open-air archaeological sites exist, such as the archaeological site of "Nea Paphos" and the "Tombs of the Kings". A cross-comparison of the results between the optical and the radar images is presented, as well as a comparison with ready products derived from the Sentinel Hub service such as the Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar Urban and Sentinel-2 Scene classification data. Moreover, the proportion of vegetation cover was evaluated with Google Earth red-green-blue free high-resolution optical images, indicating that a good correlation between the RVI and NDVI can be generated only over vegetated areas. The overall findings indicate that Sentinel-1 and -2 indices can provide a similar pattern only over vegetated areas, which can be further elaborated to estimate temporal changes using integrated optical and radar Sentinel data. This study can support future investigations related to hazard analysis based on the combined use of optical and radar sensors, especially in areas with high cloud-coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rocky hillock of Fabrika in the north-easternmost part of ancient Nea Paphos, founded during the late 4th century BC, is of key importance for understanding the early phase of the town planning, but at the same time very difficult to be methodically explored. Both its eminent location and geology made it a natural source of building material throughout the ages, greatly hindering any accurate reconstruction of the site development. However, the data collected so far strongly suggest that the arrangement of the southern part of the hill was of a cultic nature. Therefore, on undertaking a joint project with Université d'Avignon, we decided to focus the research on the southern part of the hill where, near the top of an Early Hellenistic theatre, there are rock-cut outlines of a temple possibly devoted to Aphrodite Paphia. During two seasons of fieldwork (2018-2019), we retrieved some important information regarding both an original Hellenistic arrangement of the sacred area and its later (Late Roman/Byzantine and Medieval) use. Some new observations were also made regarding the topographical details of the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the first excavation campaign of the Paphos Agora Project (3rd July – 6th August 2011), an interesting object was discovered. In Trench II, Area 2 (Room 5), in the upper, late Roman layer, an oval amulet was found (siltstone, 39.41 × 41.32 × 4.81mm). The layer is dated to the 6th century AD, partially due to the presence of ceramic objects of the Cypriot Red Slip Ware type (Hayes form 2, AD 450-550). The obverse of the amulet contains a schematic, simplified figure of a sitting Harpocrates and below the mummy of Osiris in a boat, as well as depictions of animals (a crocodile, a rooster and a snake) and symbolic astrals (a half-moon and a star). On the reverse, however, an eight-line text of the so-called ιαεω- palindrome, consisting of 59 letters of the Greek alphabet, was carved. According to the current state of knowledge, it was translated in the following way: “Yahweh is the bearer of the secret name, the lion of Re secure in his shrine”. Both the depiction and the text carved into the surface of the amulet clearly indicate the influence of the Orient and the context of solar ideas; the object may be dated to the 5th-6th century AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

32 stamped amphora handles were excavated on the Agora site in Paphos (ancient Nea Paphos), Cyprus, within the framework of the Paphos Agora Project conducted by the Department of Classical Archaeology of the Jagiellonian University Institute of Archaeology under the direction of Professor E. Papuci-Wladyka since 2011. Most of them were found in contexts dated from the Hellenistic to the Roman period. There are, however, a few stamped handles that were uncovered in definitively uncontaminated Hellenistic contexts. Most probably all of the stamped handles date to the Hellenistic period. They come from Greek amphora production centres including Rhodes, Knidos, Thasos in the Aegean and from Sinope on the Black Sea coast. Most of these stamps are commonly known, although there are several examples of a special interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]