The “Five Face to Face: Meet an Ancient Cypriot” exhibit at the Cyprus museum immerses museumgoers into the life of an ancient Cypriot. The exhibit focuses on giving an insider look at these ancient Cypriots’ lives based on evidence left on their bodies. The exhibit does a breakdown of the area in which each ancient Cypriots would have been living. The exhibit also features a narrative in the voice of each Cypriot based off of evidence found on their body and in their burial. For example, one of the ancient Cypriots, called “The Woman from Omodos” was found with a notch in her teeth. She was buried with a needle and ovoid stone, both which are used in textile production. The chip on her teeth and what she was buried with give indications on what type of occupation she had and what activities she participated in. The exhibit featured a narrative from the perspective of the Woman from Omodos. The narrative focused on her weaving and sewing occupation. The exhibit used the clues left behind on the bodies of ancient Cypriots like the Woman from Omodos to tell a narrative about who these Cypriots were. The exhibit also had sounds from the different occupations of the ancient Cypriots playing in the background, such as the grinding of wheat or the sounds of sewing. The exhibit did a spectacular job of making these ancient people real and telling their story in a powerful and interesting way. This exhibit utilized the bones of the ancient Cypriots and what they were buried with to create a picture of what life was like for ancient Cypriots. It allowed museumgoers like me to get a much better look at both the lives and deaths of ancient Cypriots. For me, it can often be hard in museums to imagine the real people who used the artifacts displayed or lived during that time. The “Five Face to Face” exhibit brought the ancient Cypriots to life and made it easy to imagine what life could have been like for them.

Madi Barber