Today for the first time in the history of the site, the architecture was recorded from above using a drone.

Despite the use of helicopters and balloons in the past to capture the site from the air, the use of a drone will provide us with stable aerial images.

We shall put some online as soon as they are processed; today despite some wind and bad weather, the flight of the drone went perfectly as can be seen in these photos from the ground!

In 2017 the Paphos Theatre Archaeological Project is proud to announce its 3D virtual reality model of the Antonine (2nd century AD) phase of the theatre of Paphos made by our good friends at LithodomosVR, specialists in reconstructing the ancient world using exciting new technologies.

The 3D model is viewable through VR googles.

The model allows the viewer to explore a hypothetic reconstruction of the ancient theatre from three different view points; the upper cavea, the centre of the orchestra and the eastern side of the orchestra.  The immersive experience is a wonderful means to allow people to experience what the theatre would have been like during this dynamic period in the theatre's history.

The model is also a great example of our commitment towards public engagement with the archaeological process and the remarkable ancient theatre of Paphos.  It was a massive success in the recent exhibition Travellers from Australia.

The Paphos Theatre Archaeological Project is committed to sharing our results with the public.

In October Craig Barker and Diana Wood Conroy published a paper in The Conversation exploring the relationship between archaeology and contemporary visual arts and our artist program.

The paper 'Old sites, new visions: art and archaeology collide in Cyprus' can be read here.

As part of the Pafos2017 European Capital of Culture celebrations we are honoured to contribute the exhibition Travellers from Australia: artists in the ancient Pafos theatre being held at the Palia Ilektriki (Old Powerhouse) in Ktima Paphos.

The exhibition was curated by Diana Wood Conroy and Craig Barker, and features artworks and installations by artists Angela Brennan, Brogan Bunt, Rowan Conroy, Amanda Dusting, Hannah Gee, Penny Harris, Guy Hazell, Stephen Ingham, Derek Kreckler, Bob Miller, Jacky Redgate, Geoff Stennett, Lawrence Wallen, Diana Wood Conroy and LithodomosVR.

The exhibition ranges from photography, metal-working and ceramic to digital media and video projection. 

The exhibition was opened on 2 October by His Excellency Alan Sweetman, the Australian High Commissioner to Cyprus. Thanks to everyone who could come to help us celebrate this special night.

Here are some images from the opening event.

​A few weeks post-dig, in my studio in Australia: my hands are covered in clay and I’m watching this small vessel spiral around on the wheel. I’m picturing it in pieces: the shoulder, the lip, the foot. Will any part of it exist in a thousand years? And what will it say about me?

This was my favourite feeling about the Paphos dig. We were uncovering bits of objects that spoke about a creative process, a moment in time, and the people within it. Furthermore, these objects had been silent, muffled by earth, for centuries at least. Hearing the archaeologists translate this material language – what each fragment was, what time it might have been constructed, and why – was fascinating.

It felt different to the way artists ‘read’ an object. Artists tend to project past experiences and personal associations onto a sculpture or painting, to extract more meaning than the object is capable of supplying. It becomes more about the viewer than the object. In Paphos, details were scrutinised by archaeologists, and sensible conclusions were reached tentatively based on what was there. What was known, either in the ground or in a museum. “Go from the known to the unknown.” The known made the unknown even more exciting.
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With a new appreciation for material agency, I look at what I do. What will disappear in the next millennium, and what will endure? Digital animations seem most stable – lightweight, easily transportable and replicated at zero cost. Yet they could easily become incompatible as technology progresses. Especially once I’m long dead and there’s nobody left from the 21st Century to update them. My drawings will fade, mould and disintegrate like all paper eventually does. 

The ceramic pieces, left as diagnostic or non-diagnostic sherds, might remain. And if some patient fool manages to reassemble them, I ask again, what will my object say? The 24-year-old woman with questionable taste in sweaters who too often quoted The Simpsons won’t be preserved. Future archaeologists will only know we were making pottery in the age of plastic.

With this in mind, I want to imagine a vibrant set of ancient personalities behind the Paphos sherds. The humans who made or used the vessels we found on site were as complex as we are. Bad singers, slow walkers, messy love lives, stinky feet and terrible jokes against a backdrop of Corinthian columns, frescos, Medieval walls, graffiti, and soaring minarets.

There are many more objects – from museums and the Paphos Theatre – yet to be animated. Until then, I must give enormous thanks to the project's fearless leader Craig Barker for such a wonderfully inspirational shot to the system. All the trench supervisors deserve congratulations – not only for their tireless work, but their patience with rookies like myself. And as always, I'm forever grateful for Diana Wood Conroy's guidance, humour and generosity in sharing her life’s experiences. It was the greatest pleasure to step into this story.

Hannah Gee
​Artist and Excavator

Sgraffito.  Animation by Hannah Gee (2016).  View on Vimeo.

Bird CY 2016. Animation by Hannah Gee (2016). View on Vimeo.

Bird and Fish. Animation by Hannah Gee (2016). View on Vimeo.

Aphrodite Drawn Animation, from Paphos District Archaeological Museum, Cyprus. 
​Animation by Hannah Gee (2016).  View on Vimeo.

Alexander. Animation by Hannah Gee (2016). View on Vimeo.

2016 marks the 21st anniversary of the Paphos Theatre Archaeological Project.  The team took time off work to celebrate with cake! 

Anthoulla Vassiliades and Craig Barker (both team members of the inaugural 1995 season) cut the cake.  Here's to another 21 years of archaeological investigations!

Team member Cat Fenech who will celebrate her 21st in a couple of weeks gets some practice for her own birthday (she is also the first team member born after the excavation project began!).

As we reach the end of the dig, it’s hard to believe that three short weeks ago I boarded my first solo international flight, headed for a country I had never visited, with a language I didn’t speak, to live and work with people I had never met, with absolutely no understanding of archaeology further than the words ‘strata’ and ‘plum-bob’
 
Three weeks later and I have learnt so much, I now actually understand most of the jargon that gets thrown around on site, as well as enough Greek to buy my groceries (given that the conversation doesn’t progress beyond Hello, no I don’t have a shoppers card and thank you).
 
I have made some amazing new friends (including my room mate who giggles in her sleep) eaten some fantastic food, and seen some amazing places. But between drawings a moustache on our sleeping roommate and the interesting dance moves we actually managed to get some digging done, and amongst all that I managed to get some sketches done
 
Thanks to Craig and the rest of the team for an amazing season, it has truly been a life changing experience, who would of thought flying 14,375km from home to dig in the dirt could be such a fantastic adventure.
 
Cat Fenech 
Excavator

In 1995 before excavations began Richard Green took some photographs on the site.
Now over 21 years later, how has the landscape changed as a result of our excavations?

This house was on the south western end of the site, and became known as 'the girl's house' to the first generation of female students who stayed in it.  The building was demolished in 2006, when Odos Onislou, the street that crossed the site, was closed.

This 19th century house was nicknamed 'Palm Court' by the team because a series of palms out the front of the building.  Both palms and the building are now gone.  We used this space as a site office, and photography and conservation.  The foundations of the building were partially cleared in Trench 16D this season!

The trench opened by German archaeologists in the 1980s to confirm the location of the orchestra is now unrecognisable on the landscape, as the rest of the orchestra has been cleared.

From the cavea looking towards the SE of the site in 1995 and again in 2016.

Only a very small area of the upper cavea had been cleared before our team started work in 1995.  Now it is all largely cleared.