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Episkopi Bay Survey
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Episkopi Bay, Cyprus
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Background
2003 Season
Plans for 2004
Participants
Bibliography
Useful Links
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Background
Cyprus' unique strategic position at the crossroads of the Mediterranean world and the Near East
has been instrumental in the island's long and culturally rich history from the Neolithic Age to the present. Seafaring
has long played a vital role in the development of the island's commerce. Such sea-borne commercial ventures, however,
were inevitably subject to shipwrecks that left cultural debris scattered throughout the island's coastal waters.
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Terrestrial excavations at the Late Bronze Age site of Episkopi-Bamboula (University of Cincinnati) and its Iron Age successor Kourion have already provided substantial evidence
for extensive trade relations depending specifically on heavy maritime traffic in and around the Kouris River mouth.
A maritime trading center, ships traveling to and from Kourion would no doubt have foundered along this rocky stretch
of coastline. Such remains have the potential for revealing significantly more regarding foreign contacts and trade
patterns during the island's long and interesting history.
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2003 Season
Five areas of interest were explored during the 2003 season using low-tech surveying methods.
A brief investigation was carried out on an underwater construction along Kourion beach which may represent part
of the town's ancient but yet unidentified harbor. Visual inspection of some of the shallower areas off the cliffs
west of Kourion beach was accomplished. Shallow-water investigations were conducted along the mouth of the Kouris
River. Archaeologists investigated three small bays along the west coast of the Akrotiri Peninsula, where scatters
of ceramic debris attested to maritime traffic from the Hellenistic period through Ottoman times.
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Finally, the area around Cape Zevgari was preliminarily surveyed, and yielded the material thus
far with the largest temporal distribution. The earliest ceramics (basket-handles) are clearly of late Archaic
or early Classical date (near right). The Hellenistic and Roman periods are well represented (far right). However,
material as recent as the 19th century can also be found here.
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| A concentration in this area of Late Roman amphoras of probable 6th or early 7th century date likely
represents a small shipwreck, though no wood or other material could be located. Each amphora was flagged, and
in the end, a total of over 150 were recorded in this assemblage. |
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Plans for 2004
Plans for the 2004 season include high-tech sonar and magnetometer surveying over a wider area of the
bay. This type of instrumentation, which is being kindly loaned along with technical expertise by RPM Nautical Foundation of Florida, will allow significantly more efficient
surveying.
Given the sand and sediment which extend over parts of the bay, disturbances along this seabed should
be relatively easy to detect with sonar, be they simple rock outcroppings or actual shipwrecks. Then, more precise
diving operations can be utilized to investigate further the targets. Also, since magnetometers allow for some
penetration of sand and sediment, we should be able to gain insight into what might be obscured by the alluvial
sediment which has accumulated over the centuries.
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Participants
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- Toby Jones
- Troy Nowak
- Emilia Vassiliou
- Elena Stylianou
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Bibliography
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- Leidwanger, J. forthcoming. "Episkopi Bay Marine Survey, 2003 Preliminary Report." Report of the
Department of Anqituities, Cyprus.
- Leidwanger, J. forthcoming. "Episkopi Bay Survey, 2003 Field Season." INA Quarterly.
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Useful Links
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| Citation Information: Leidwanger, J.
2003. Episkopi Bay Survey. http://nautarch.tamu.edu/projects/episkopi |
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created by J. Leidwanger, 11 December 2003
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