​Over the next few weeks, we’ll be highlighting some new and old members of the Paphos Theatre Project, showcasing their careers and various interests. Kicking off the series is our site director, Dr. Craig Barker.

Craig has been a part of the project since its inception in 1995. After becoming director in 2007, the project changed its focus from the theatre to the broader northeastern quarter of the ancient city with excavations of the nymphaeum and the Roman road network.

How has your career changed since 1995?

“In my first year, I was an honours student at USYD. I went to university intending to become an Australian contract archaeologist. Working on this project changed the focus of my studies. It led to more focus on Mediterranean and public engagement archaeology, which has resulted in me working at the University of Sydney and the Chau Chak Wing Museum, finding ways to present research to the broader public. I hope that we are able to do the same with the Paphos project and make our exciting finds accessible to all.”

​The second team member to be highlighted is Azura Skye Watson, a first time student volunteer! Azura is in her third year at the University of Sydney, where she majors in archaeology and ancient history.

How has being on this dig changed your perception of archaeology?

“This dig has taught me that archaeology is not hierarchical as much as it is a journey of constant learning. Even archaeologists who’ve been working for decades still attend lectures and workshops from their colleagues and ask questions. Archaeology is just so nuanced, it’s a level playing field for everyone to educate and learn.”

​

​The third team member to be featured is Zoe Lay, a first time volunteer. Back in Melbourne, Zoe is a Technical Archaeologist who specialises in Aboriginal cultural heritage. She has a Bachelors from Monash University, a Masters from La Trobe University and is currently working for Heritage Insight.

How does your experience with Indigenous archaeology in Australia compare with the excavations of the Paphos Theater Project?

“Back home I work in commercial archaeology which is designed to mitigate the destruction of cultural heritage in the face of development. In Aboriginal archaeology, we dig a series of test pits in order to determine the significance and extent of archaeological sites so that they may be registered and subsequently protected by Victorian cultural heritage law. The trenches at Paphos are much larger than at home. They are excavated by following changes in stratigraphy and archaeological features. Whilst the overall aims and methodologies of excavation are different, both are rewarding in that they provide insight into the stories of the past.”

Stamps issued by the Republic of Cyprus in 1964 to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, including the ancient theatres of Soloi, Salamis and Kourion (Paphos theatre was yet to be identified) and Othello's Tower.

'Othello's Tower' in Famagusta, Cyprus

With more than 5000 items in inventory and well over 100,000 sherds found, sorted and bagged, one the largest challenges for the Paphos Theatre Archaeological Project has been maintaining an orderly system to enable team members and researchers to access finds.

Although all inventoried items and special finds are sent to Paphos Museum, there is the need for proper storage for thousands of archaeological contexts worth of finds for future research of amphorae, roof tiles, cooking pots, and imported Ottoman glazed ware amongst a myriad of subjects.

So in 2019 the Paphos Theatre Archaeological Project acquired a new storage facility. Lead by the indefatigable Julie Thompson-Moltzen the team have cheerfully built shelves, re-boxed deposits, inventoried locations and lifted and moved many, many boxes of finds. In coming days Julie will post some photos of the team working on storage!

​If you would like to help us with this important part of the archaeological process we are naming individual shelving units after our supporters. Yes, you too can help support our project, by 'helping to hold up' material found on site, by naming the shelving unit after yourself or a loved one (partner, friend, pet!). Donations of $40AUD or 25 Euro and over can be made to the project here (just mark it as a donation for 'shelving unit' and either your name or the person you would like to be named on the shelves). Thank you!!

Often when I see an interesting object from antiquity in a glass case at a museum, my first thoughts are of the time it was made; who it belonged to; and what this object meant to them. A tangible link to a person who lived a long time ago. Someone you will never meet, but you feel somehow connected to, through that very object, in the here and now of 21st century life. 

What I hadn’t considered previously is the even stronger connection that an archaeologist could feel towards something they had discovered either personally or as part of a team.

Back in Week 1 when I first started work in Trench 19G I noticed that a team mate (John) took extra care to check though the quantities of dirt we were removing from its surface. Using the pointed end of his trowel to fossick through bucketloads of dirt and rocks as they were tipped into a wheelbarrow prior to being trundled off and deposited on a spoil heap, John explained that he was extra vigilant now, having very nearly missed an important find a few years earlier at this very site. A terracotta-looking Hellenistic head in the style of Alexander the Great.

A few weeks later, I was assisting at the sorting table - just across from the conservator’s desk, when our conservator (Grace) was showing those nearby a small head she had just glued together. About the same size as a walnut shell, it was in remarkably good condition with clearly delineated facial features and curly hair, and I found myself wondering, “Was this the very same head John had mentioned in Week 1?”

The short answer is yes. And he was most pleased to see it again – now glued together in one piece.

Later that afternoon our fresco specialist, artist and archaeologist Diana Wood-Conroy came to see it and she too was delighted. Holding it briefly triggered a memory of the season it had been dug up (2014) and an amusing anecdote about something that had happened as she was recording this particular find by drawing it. Deep in concentration, a bird had landed on her head – something she said had never happened to her before or since.

Which brings us back full circle to the point made at the beginning of this post – the strength of the connection an archaeologist or volunteer could feel towards something they had discovered or worked on, either personally as part of a team. Neither Diana nor John had seen this object in the five years since it was unearthed, but their memories, and their connection to it, were part of Alexander’s story now. 

​And he a part of theirs.
 
- Geraldine Higginson