After a Covid-enforced hiatus the University of Sydney's archaeological mission to the Paphos Theatre site has returned to excavate for the first time since 2019, and our twentieth field season since 1995.

Having begun work on the 2 April, we are now at the halfway point through the project season and the team has been hard at work excavating, research and working towards completing our publication volume.

The 2023 season objectives are to better understand a medieval and post-medieval structure on the top of Fabrika hill to the rear of the ancient theatre; to better understand the 'royal box' feature carved in the cavea (ancient theatre seating), to reappraise the Roman urban landscape in the the theatre quarter of ancient Nea Paphos and to resume research projects from before the pandemic, with the intention of completing our database update and finalising chapters of the major project publication and a number of smaller academic papers. We are also collaborating with the Department of Antiquities and the Australian High Commission in Nicosia on a number of projects.

A dedicated team of archaeologists, students and specialist researchers are hard at work and we will update our progress over the next two weeks with a series of entries on our education blog or you can follow the Paphos Theatre project on our Instagram, Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Our fieldwork project will be completed on 7 May 2023 and research will continue in Australia over the next 12 months.

After a long delay because of the Covid pandemic, the Paphos Theatre Archaeological Project will return to the field for a season of excavation and research in 2023. The season will take place between 1 April and 7 May 2023.

More information will be revealed here in coming months, but a limited number of student places are now open for current or recent graduates of archaeology, ancient history and adjacent fields. Application forms and more details can be found here.

After being postponed because of Covid we are pleased to announce that the conference NEA PAPHOS COLLOQUIUM III: ANOTHER ACROPOLIS AT PAPHOS: FABRIKA HILL AND BEYOND will take place as a hybrid event in 2022.

A free conference on latest research into the history and archaeology of Nea Paphos
8-11 November 2022 in Athens, Greece

Webinar registration is now open, those attending in person can visit the venues in Athens.
​More details here.

Although work on the site has been limited since the Covid pandemic; team members have been working on publication of various research project associated with the Paphos Theatre. The most recent out this month is a paper by C. Richards in the journal Herom: Journal on Hellenistic and Roman Material Culture examining graffiti games located at the theatre site and contextualising them within other Roman and Late Antique board games in Cyprus. The paper is available here.

C. Richards, "Playing games at the Paphos Theatre: an examination of graffiti games uncovered by the Paphos Theatre Archaeological Project", Herom: Journal on Hellenistic and Roman Material Culture 10, 2021, 77-98

A few team members are presenting Zoom seminars and lectures for a number of University of Sydney organisations in May. Details on registration for Zoom access can be found in the various advertisements.

While the world sits at home in isolation during the Covid-19 crisis why not fill in some time with the Paphos Theatre digital jigsaw puzzles. We now have a range of 6 digital puzzles for you to enjoy. Access the puzzles here.

While the world is in isolation and archaeological sites are closed we plan to post some videos of past seasons. One of the major finds of 2019 was a near intact late Roman jug in Trench 19D. Here it is being lifted from the ground to the excitement of the team. Vision captured by Dr Bob Miller.

As part of our 25th anniversary celebrations, the excavations will look back at some of our achievements. In September 1996 we featured in the Australian media, in Good Weekend magazine.

FLASHBACK TO FEBRUARY 1995

2020 marks the 25th anniversary of the Paphos Theatre Archaeological Project. We shall take a look back at some of our achievements over the course of celebrating this year.
It was in February 1995 that project founder Emeritus Professor Richard Green, the Renee and Arthur George Chair of Classical Archaeology at the University of Sydney visited Paphos along with Professor Margaret Clunies-Ross and Dr John Tidmarsh to do a reconnaissance of the site. Green would return to the site in May with a team of archaeologists and students to undertake the first season of excavation.

Here are some images from 25 years ago in February 1995, before the excavations began and with buildings now demolished.

Our friends and colleagues at the Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens have just launched a blog and we were very excited to contribute to it with a small entry on our recent 2019 field season!

Read the blog entry here.