Pamela Chauvel - student team member


Sunday is a day for cleaning the dig house and washing pottery.  So after a bit of a sleep-in, we all pitched in to mop, wipe and vacuum.  Actually all that really happened was that the white dust that covers everything, dislodged then resettled.  It’s still early days so there was no pottery to wash and after brunch, we were free to do our own thing.

For some of us it’s our first time in Cyprus so we spent the weekend exploring around Paphos: a basilica (accompanied by a friendly cat intent on tripping us up, Paphos has lots of cats); the catacombs under the “hanky tree” (where people tie bits of cloth to pray for help); and the maze of huge Hellenistic caves cut into Fabrica Hill.  In the afternoon we caught the bus to Coral Bay and then on to Agios Georgios where we sat at a restaurant at the top of the cliffs eating haloumi and dips, watching the sailing boats and feeling like we were on holidays.  Some of the others got soft serve icecream from the Rambo Whippy van, worth it for the name alone.

Today (Monday) I went for an early walk in the archaeological park, the ruins of the Roman villas casting long shadows, where there is room after room of intricate and gorgeous mosaics of mythical scenes.  After breakfast we headed out to the birthplace of Aphrodite, where she is said to have emerged fully formed and lovely from the foam (a couple of other sites make the same claim but this did seem like a good place for a goddess to be born – dramatic white cliffs and turquoise water) We hunted for heart shaped pebbles and then swam around Aphrodite’s rock three times - because according to legend, that night you will dream of your true love.

This is my first dig and as fun and relaxing as the weekend has been, I can’t wait to get back to work tomorrow in trench 10F and really make some progress.  We’re still working through topsoil.  At the north end we came across the remains of a medieval structure within the first 10cm, a couple of walls and what appears to be a courtyard.  However the southern end of the trench is much harder work.  We’re breaking through the remains of several modern roads.  Lots of hacking away with picks in the hope that eventually we’ll reach something Roman.  Time to go to bed and dream.

Peta Knott - archaeologist

Normally I would protest violently about getting up before 7am on a Saturday, but today was different. I was excited to start another day digging up the ancient past at the Paphos theatre in Cyprus.

This is my second time on the University of Sydney's Paphos dig. My first time was in 2004 to help with artefact sorting and drawing of red slip pottery fragments. I first fell in love with archaeology when I visited the Nicholson Museum on a Year 9 excursion. Since then I've completed an honours degree in Classical Archaeology and have explored the ancient past wherever possible through reading and attending talks.

Back on site, Team Excav8 and our fearless leader Kerrie were raring to go and finally remove a line of clay pipes from our trench to find out what was underneath. Roman workers put the pipes in to help with water drainage after the theatre was renovated around 150AD. The almost 2000 year old pipes are quite amazing and very hard to dig out. Those Romans sure knew how to build things to last!

All morning we chipped away at the plaster and sand holding the pipes in place. We used pick axes and trowels, dust pans and brushes, buckets and dental picks. After many buckets of spoil had been removed and Kerrie had asked many times “Are they ready yet?” finally the pipes came loose. We bagged each of the pipes and inside sediment and lifted them out of the trench. The pipes will soon be transported back to the dig house for labelling, cleaning and scientific testing of the sediment inside. What a great morning's work!

In the afternoon, as with every day on the dig, everyone mucked in to clean the pottery that had been found earlier that day.  All the archaeologists gathered around buckets of water with their tooth brushes and scrubbing brushes in hand. The hundreds of sherds of pottery were brushed clean and laid out to dry.

These artefacts, along with everything else found on the theatre site, will be kept in storage in Cyprus and made available for researchers of the future. Maybe someone sitting in a history classroom right now will one day research ancient drainage pipes and other Roman engineering wonders.


After cleaning the artefacts, it was time for Team Excav8 and the other archaeologists to clean ourselves up before dinner. We archaeologists get very dirty digging through the past and every now and then we dig up something really interesting. I wonder what we will find where the pipes once were when we go back on site next week.......?

 

After a day of cleaning on site, we now have officially begun the Paphos 2010 season.  Soil was broken on the five trenches we are opening this year.  Each trench is specifically located to answer specific questions about the architecture of the ancient theatre of Nea Paphos and of the surrounding urban landscape.

Trench 10A is located at the eastern most edge of the ancient theatre’s eastern parodos (entranceway).  It is designed to explore the eastern edge of the theatre and to ask questions about the movement of peoples through the northeastern quarter of the ancient city.

Trench 10B is in the massive cut into the bedrock of the western parodos.  This area had been previously explored in 2002 and in 2008, and is little understood at this point, although it has proved to be rich in finds so far.

Trenches 10C and 10D are located on two sides of an ancient structure located to the south of the theatre in the eastern area in 2008 and 2009.  A 21-metre long, 5-metre wide structure with a plain mosaic floor, we have been speculating that this may be a nymphaeum or some other form of fountain house.  Given the area of excavations by the Australian mission would have been located near an ancient city gate, the supply of fresh water to travelers would have been a vital architectural element.  What is yet to be fully determined is the linkage between the theatre and the nymphaeum?

Both trenches are designed to answer specific questions about the relationship of this building with the surrounding areas, including a major east-west running road to the south of the nymphaeum, as well as a passageway to the west of the structure which would have served as part of the entrance into the eastern parodos of the theatre.  The flow of pedestrian traffic would have been important for allowing access to the theatre structure by audience members and performers alike.

Trench 10E is a small exploratory area in the western cavea (seating area), quite a small area of excavation but an important one.  The aim of explore for any traces of early architectural evidence of the theatre.  Most ancient theatre sites were renovated or remodeled several times during its usage, and most surviving theatre display the later Roman structures, not the theatres of the earlier Hellenistic or Classical periods.  Paphos is no different, but perhaps there are traces to be found here that provide a glimpse into the first phases of the theatre of the capital of Cyprus.

Trench 10F is a long sondage, designed to explore the relationship between the rear of the Roman stage building and the same road that is being explored in Trench 10C.

We hope you can follow our trenches as they develop, and hear the stories from people excavating them.