Category: Uncategorized
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Phoenician Masks
While at the Archaeological Museum of the Larnaca District, I absentmindedly took a picture of a mask I liked. Later that day I would read about Phoenician-Punic masks and their connections to Archaic Greek masks found at Artemis Ortheia. I realized that the mask I had liked was one of these Phoenician-Punic masks, and I…
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Nicosia: The Cyprus Museum
Hi folks! Today we took our first trip to Nicosia, the capitol city, where we visited the Cyprus Museum. There we saw hundreds of incredible artifacts, but one stood out to me in particular. A conical rhyton from the thirteenth century BC which caught my eye due to its outstanding blue color, the product of…
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First Week at Vigla
It is Friday July 7, and I have officially finished my first week of digging at the Vigla site. What a wonderful experience! This week I got a serious work out. Monday started with throwing bucket after bucket of rocks off the side of the hill at the south end of our dig site. This…
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Chapter One: I Geek Out Over Some Ancient Dead People
I was lucky enough to already know a handful of my classmates before we all touched down in Cyprus. It was strange to see them here, even though I had been expecting them. How odd to watch each other go about our days in one country, and then be thrust together in a dusty pit…
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Larnaca Archaeological Museum
On Wednesday July 5, I visited for the first time the Archaeological Museum in Larnaca. The museum was impressive for its large selection of artifacts spanning the whole of known human habitation on the island. My favorite section of the museum was its collection of Neolithic artifacts (5000-3900 BC). These included numerous stone, clay and bone…
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Pigeons
Does anyone actually want to read a 250-word blog post about pigeons? Probably not, but here we are. The balcony of my room has been forcefully taken over by a single brown pigeon. Every time I go out there, there it is, perched up on the AC unit in the corner. Although nothing will ever…
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The Neolithic Settlement of Choirokoitia
The Neolithic settlement of Choirokoitia is located in the Marconi valley. This settlement reveals the development of the Cypriot Aceramic Neolithic, an original civilization. The communities that settled here date back to the end of the 7th millennium BC. Upon settling here, inhabitants brought new plant and animal species with them, thus increasing the biodiversity…
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The Archaeological Site of Kourion
The archaeological site of Kourion is located in Episkopi, just on the west coast of Limassol. The city of Kourion itself was one of ten of the most important ancient kingdoms in Cyprus. This archaeological site boasts historically significant places including the ancient Kourion Theatre. This theatre dates back to around the end of the…
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Larnaca Medieval Fort
Along the Larnaca, the beach is a medieval fort. This fort is estimated to date back to the time of the reign of King James I. It’s likely that this fort was constructed to serve as a method of protection for the town’s harbor. Aside from this, there is little known today about the full…
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Transport Amphora at Vigla
One of the special finds at Vigla is a partial amphora. This vessel was found in situ in the floor of the Eastern room. At the time of excavating this vessel, there was little to no ceramics being found in that trench. The inside of this vessel was excavated, but little came from this aside…
Vigla Archaeological Project 