The Section of Classical Archaeology of the Jagiellonian University has undertaken archaeological research in the ancient city of Paphos on Cyprus. The project is led by Prof. Ewdoksia Papuci-Władyka. Paphos is one of the most important excavation sites on Cyprus, with the historic monuments put on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Besides the Cyprian hosts, the excavations have been conducted by numerous foreign archaeological missions, including Australian, American, French, Italian and Polish expeditions. Poland has been represented by a team from the University of Warsaw and, since this season, by the Jagiellonian University expedition.  

During the Paphos expedition, the JU archaeologists have found coins, a bronze jug, a statuette of goddess Athena and some ceramic vessels. Could you tell us something more about these items? Can any of them be called treasures?

(Ewdoksia Papuci-Władyka) The first season of Paphos Agora Project turned out to be very fruitful. First of all, we discovered the remains of structures from the Hellenistic period, that is from the city's initial stage, and from the early and late Roman period: walls, residential storeys, floors, sewage system (ceramic pipeline) and two water tanks, which we are going to explore next year. We have also found numerous fragments of Roman, Hellenistic and Byzantine vessels, and managed to paste some of them together: they look magnificent. The important and valuable items, that is the "treasures" you are asking about, include a bronze jug, bronze scales with a rare acorn-shaped weight, almost 70 bronze coins, unfortunately corroded and in need of cleaning, an iron sword, lead weights, a cylindrical lead vessel with an iron handle, a helmeted head of a statuette of Athena made of terracotta, fragments of glass vessels, and a small Egyptian amulet with a ornament engraved on one side and a magic inscription in Greek on the other. There have also been lots of other items, too many to mention all of them.

How many people came with you to Cyprus altogether? I know that the expedition included members of the academic staff and students of the Jagiellonian University as well as some volunteers.

(EPW) The expedition consisted of 24 people altogether. We worked from July 3 to August 7, 2011. Besides me, there were four members of the academic staff: dr W. Machowski and three PhD students: mgr Agata Dobrosz, mgr Agnieszka Fulińska, mgr Edyta Marzec, 15 students of archaeology, one volunteer from Cyprus, one volunteer from Germany and two archaeologists-geophysicists: mgr Artur Buszek and mgr Dawid Święch, who, helped by the students, conducted geophysical tests during the first week of our work.    

Please tell us something more about your working conditions. Was the heat very oppressive?

(EPW) It was really hot! The temperatures reached 44 Celsius degrees. But despite our fears nobody suffered from overheating. Until recently, I took part in the excavations on Cyprus in September, when it is no longer so hot. July and August are the hottest months on the Aphrodite's Island. Perhaps the fact that we carried out the field work only until noon made it more bearable. We started at 5.30 a.m.. During the break it was possible to swim in the see. From 4.30 to 7.30 p.m. we worked with the items we had found during the morning excavations, washing and pasting together the ceramics, registering all the items, taking photographs, making drawings and descriptions. The team did a first class job! Besides, we had various other attractions: we were visited by the mayor of Paphos, Mr. Savvas Vergas and by the members of the Paphos Museum staff. The local press wrote about us. We were also invited to the Greek music concert and to a dinner organized by the mayor and the Kato Paphos Cultural Associacion.

Finally, could you shortly sum up this season? Are you satisfied with the expedition and are you going to continue your work in Paphos?

(EPW) As I have already indicated, I am very pleased both with the results of our research and the members of the expedition. We are still unsure whether there had been an older, Hellenistic, agora below the later Roman one. Yet, Paphos Agora Project is a long-term project, so next year we are going to visit Cyprus again. Meanwhile, we have got a lot of work writing a detailed research report and preparing to a new expedition. We also have to put some effort in obtaining the funds, since despite the support of the Dean of the Faculty of History, Prof. Andrzej Banach and the Head of The Institute of Archaeology, Prof. Krzysztof Ciałowicz, to whom I am very grateful, we still need more sources of funding to ensure that our team works truly professionally and under satisfying conditions.

The joy of finding the first bronze treasure (a jug): a photo by Prof. Ewdoksia Papuci-Władyka