Empire and excavation

Critical perspectives on archaeology in British-period Cyprus, 1878–1960

Edited by Thomas Kiely, Anna Reeve & Lindy Crewe | Forthcoming

Empire and excavation

Critical perspectives on archaeology in British-period Cyprus, 1878–1960

Edited by Thomas Kiely, Anna Reeve & Lindy Crewe | Forthcoming


Paperback ISBN: 9789464271140 | Hardback ISBN: 9789464271157 | Imprint: Sidestone Press Academics | Format: 210x280mm | ca. 470 pp. | Language: English | 100 illus. (bw) | 50 illus. (fc) | Keywords: Cyprus; archaeology; historiography; colonialism; heritage; heritage management; archaeological ethics; museums; collecting; British Empire; Ottoman Empire | download cover | DOI: 10.59641/h6k2e3f4g5

Publication date: 20-03-2025

We will plant a tree for each order containing a paperback or hardback book via OneTreePlanted.org.

The modern discipline of archaeology developed in tandem with the expansion of European imperialism in the 19th and 20th centuries. Cyprus, ruled by Britain between 1878 and 1960, is a fascinating example of how archaeology was practiced and developed in a specific colonial context. This volume explores the mechanisms, the institutions and the characters who contributed to the development of Cypriot archaeology, often within a fraught political environment.

The 23 papers in this volume address aspects such as the role of local agents within a colonial environment; changing attitudes towards and interpretations of cultural heritage; the export of excavated materials and their onward journeys; the development of legal frameworks to prevent looting, and their practical application; co-operation and competition between different nation-states at the peak and decline of empires; the conflicts caused by economic priorities; and the impact of institutions and individuals who attempted to support or control rights over the heritage of the island. Through the lens of British-period Cyprus they trace the evolution of institutions and practices that remain important for archaeology in Cyprus to this day.

This volume will be of interest to archaeologists, cultural heritage practitioners, museums, and anyone with an interest in the history of Cyprus.

Preface and acknowledgments
Thomas Kiely, Anna Reeve and Lindy Crewe

By way of introduction. Empires and excavations in Cyprus 1878–1960
Thomas Kiely

PART 1: PEOPLE AND PLACES

Over the landscape, in the landscape? Knowledge and agency in Cypriot archaeology, 1870–1910
Michael Given

Dr Francis Henry Hill Guillemard (1852–1933) and the formation of the Cyprus Exploration Fund
Robert S. Merrillees and Thomas Kiely, with a note by Antoine Hermary

Was there an official German interest in the archaeology of Cyprus between 1878 and 1914?
Stephan Schmid

The Italian entomologist Giacomo Cecconi and Cyprus: a step towards the formation of the Cypriot collection in the National Archaeological Museum of Florence
Sebastiano Soldi

Colonial society and the dismissal of John Hilton, first Director of Antiquities in Cyprus
Nicholas Stanley-Price

Archaeological entanglements: Palestinian refugee archaeologists in Cyprus, Libya and Jordan
Sarah Irving

A clash of personalities, archaeological practices and empires at Enkomi
George Papasavvas

PART 2: POLITICS AND PRACTICES

The implementation of ‘imperial policy’ on the antiquities of Cyprus (1869–1935): targeted or circumstantial?
Despina Pilides

Of goats, monuments and men: George Jeffery and the early management of Waqf-owned medieval monuments in British Cyprus
Pertev Basri

Archaeological politics in colonial Cyprus: Imperialism, Hellenism, and the Eteocypriots
Raphael Marshall

Law and archaeology in British-period Cyprus: the case of Lapithos
Stella Diakou

Mining in the archives: the mining industry and Cypriot archaeology in the British colonial period
Vasiliki Kassianidou

Works and days of the Cyprus Survey Branch during the period 1955–1974
Lindy Crewe, Anna Georgiadou and Despina Pilides

Diving into the past: archival research results of the Cyprus Coastal Assessment Project (CCAP) and the history of the first underwater archaeological explorations in Cyprus
Panagiotis Theofanous, Maria Volikou and Despina Pilides

PART 3: LEGACIES AND RECEPTIONS

Exploring the legacy of imperialist logic: new theoretical approaches to the historiography of Cypriot sculpture
Catherine V. Olien

Cyprus and its antiquities at the British Empire Exhibition, 1924–1925
Anna Reeve

The Ancient Cyprus Collection at the British Museum: retracing stories of travelling antiquities, knowledge, and empire
Polina Nikolaou

National press coverage of the Swedish Cyprus Expedition
Kristian Göransson

The Diaspora of Cypriot Antiquities in Swansea
Ersin Hussein

Communicating archaeology in British-period Cyprus: from Ohnefalsch-Richter to Dikaios
Anastasia Leriou and Giorgos Vavouranakis

Prehistoric archaeology in the Republic of Cyprus: the first sixty years
A. Bernard Knapp

Cypriot Aphrodite, archaeological representation and British colonial discourse: a reappraisal
Christine E. Morris and Giorgos Papantoniou

References

Dr. Thomas Kiely

Thomas Kiely is the A.G. Leventis Curator for Ancient Cyprus in the Department of Greece and Rome at the British Museum in London, as well as the Curator for the Aegean Bronze Age, having previously studied for a DPhil in settlement and burial practices in Cyprus in the Late Bronze Age and early Iron Age at the University of Oxford. His main role at the British Museum since 2006 has been overseeing the Cyprus Digitisation Project, a long-term programme of documentation and research of the ancient Cyprus collection, including of the rich archival documentation. In addition to numerous papers and books reviews, he has edited Ancient Cyprus in the British Museum. Papers in Honour of Veronica Tatton-Brown (BM Press, 2009) and, with Vassos Karageorghis and others, Salamis-Toumba. An Iron Age sanctuary rediscovered. Excavations of Cyprus Exploration Fund, 1890 (Cyprus Institute, 2019).

read more

Dr. Anna Reeve

Anna Reeve is an Early Career Research Associate in the Institute of Classical Studies at the University of London. Her PhD from the University of Leeds examined the ancient Cypriot collection belonging to Leeds Museums and Galleries, tracing object itineraries and connecting them to local and global histories. She has published articles in journals and edited volumes on individual local collections of Cypriot antiquities in the UK, working with museums and archives to investigate their histories, and continues to work with colleagues to identify and explore such collections and their routes from Cyprus to the museum.

read more

Dr. Lindy Crewe

Lindy Crewe has been Director of the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute (CAARI) since 2017. Prior to this she was Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Manchester. She obtained her PhD from the University of Edinburgh on the introduction of wheelmade pottery on Late Bronze Age Cyprus, with particular reference to the material from Enkomi, published as Early Enkomi: Regionalism, Trade and Society at the Beginning of the Late Bronze Age on Cyprus (2007). She is the author of two monographs and has contributed to and edited several volumes, including Figurine makers of prehistoric Cyprus. Settlement and cemeteries at Souskiou (E. Peltenburg, D. Bolger and L. Crewe, 2019). She has published numerous articles on Chalcolithic and Bronze Age topics including pottery and society, mortuary practices, textiles and trade. She is currently Directing excavations at the Bronze Age settlement of Kissonerga-Skalia near Paphos.

read more

Abstract:

The modern discipline of archaeology developed in tandem with the expansion of European imperialism in the 19th and 20th centuries. Cyprus, ruled by Britain between 1878 and 1960, is a fascinating example of how archaeology was practiced and developed in a specific colonial context. This volume explores the mechanisms, the institutions and the characters who contributed to the development of Cypriot archaeology, often within a fraught political environment.

The 23 papers in this volume address aspects such as the role of local agents within a colonial environment; changing attitudes towards and interpretations of cultural heritage; the export of excavated materials and their onward journeys; the development of legal frameworks to prevent looting, and their practical application; co-operation and competition between different nation-states at the peak and decline of empires; the conflicts caused by economic priorities; and the impact of institutions and individuals who attempted to support or control rights over the heritage of the island. Through the lens of British-period Cyprus they trace the evolution of institutions and practices that remain important for archaeology in Cyprus to this day.

This volume will be of interest to archaeologists, cultural heritage practitioners, museums, and anyone with an interest in the history of Cyprus.

Contents

Preface and acknowledgments
Thomas Kiely, Anna Reeve and Lindy Crewe

By way of introduction. Empires and excavations in Cyprus 1878–1960
Thomas Kiely

PART 1: PEOPLE AND PLACES

Over the landscape, in the landscape? Knowledge and agency in Cypriot archaeology, 1870–1910
Michael Given

Dr Francis Henry Hill Guillemard (1852–1933) and the formation of the Cyprus Exploration Fund
Robert S. Merrillees and Thomas Kiely, with a note by Antoine Hermary

Was there an official German interest in the archaeology of Cyprus between 1878 and 1914?
Stephan Schmid

The Italian entomologist Giacomo Cecconi and Cyprus: a step towards the formation of the Cypriot collection in the National Archaeological Museum of Florence
Sebastiano Soldi

Colonial society and the dismissal of John Hilton, first Director of Antiquities in Cyprus
Nicholas Stanley-Price

Archaeological entanglements: Palestinian refugee archaeologists in Cyprus, Libya and Jordan
Sarah Irving

A clash of personalities, archaeological practices and empires at Enkomi
George Papasavvas

PART 2: POLITICS AND PRACTICES

The implementation of ‘imperial policy’ on the antiquities of Cyprus (1869–1935): targeted or circumstantial?
Despina Pilides

Of goats, monuments and men: George Jeffery and the early management of Waqf-owned medieval monuments in British Cyprus
Pertev Basri

Archaeological politics in colonial Cyprus: Imperialism, Hellenism, and the Eteocypriots
Raphael Marshall

Law and archaeology in British-period Cyprus: the case of Lapithos
Stella Diakou

Mining in the archives: the mining industry and Cypriot archaeology in the British colonial period
Vasiliki Kassianidou

Works and days of the Cyprus Survey Branch during the period 1955–1974
Lindy Crewe, Anna Georgiadou and Despina Pilides

Diving into the past: archival research results of the Cyprus Coastal Assessment Project (CCAP) and the history of the first underwater archaeological explorations in Cyprus
Panagiotis Theofanous, Maria Volikou and Despina Pilides

PART 3: LEGACIES AND RECEPTIONS

Exploring the legacy of imperialist logic: new theoretical approaches to the historiography of Cypriot sculpture
Catherine V. Olien

Cyprus and its antiquities at the British Empire Exhibition, 1924–1925
Anna Reeve

The Ancient Cyprus Collection at the British Museum: retracing stories of travelling antiquities, knowledge, and empire
Polina Nikolaou

National press coverage of the Swedish Cyprus Expedition
Kristian Göransson

The Diaspora of Cypriot Antiquities in Swansea
Ersin Hussein

Communicating archaeology in British-period Cyprus: from Ohnefalsch-Richter to Dikaios
Anastasia Leriou and Giorgos Vavouranakis

Prehistoric archaeology in the Republic of Cyprus: the first sixty years
A. Bernard Knapp

Cypriot Aphrodite, archaeological representation and British colonial discourse: a reappraisal
Christine E. Morris and Giorgos Papantoniou

References

Dr. Thomas Kiely

Thomas Kiely is the A.G. Leventis Curator for Ancient Cyprus in the Department of Greece and Rome at the British Museum in London, as well as the Curator for the Aegean Bronze Age, having previously studied for a DPhil in settlement and burial practices in Cyprus in the Late Bronze Age and early Iron Age at the University of Oxford. His main role at the British Museum since 2006 has been overseeing the Cyprus Digitisation Project, a long-term programme of documentation and research of the ancient Cyprus collection, including of the rich archival documentation. In addition to numerous papers and books reviews, he has edited Ancient Cyprus in the British Museum. Papers in Honour of Veronica Tatton-Brown (BM Press, 2009) and, with Vassos Karageorghis and others, Salamis-Toumba. An Iron Age sanctuary rediscovered. Excavations of Cyprus Exploration Fund, 1890 (Cyprus Institute, 2019).

read more

Dr. Anna Reeve

Anna Reeve is an Early Career Research Associate in the Institute of Classical Studies at the University of London. Her PhD from the University of Leeds examined the ancient Cypriot collection belonging to Leeds Museums and Galleries, tracing object itineraries and connecting them to local and global histories. She has published articles in journals and edited volumes on individual local collections of Cypriot antiquities in the UK, working with museums and archives to investigate their histories, and continues to work with colleagues to identify and explore such collections and their routes from Cyprus to the museum.

read more

Dr. Lindy Crewe

Lindy Crewe has been Director of the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute (CAARI) since 2017. Prior to this she was Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Manchester. She obtained her PhD from the University of Edinburgh on the introduction of wheelmade pottery on Late Bronze Age Cyprus, with particular reference to the material from Enkomi, published as Early Enkomi: Regionalism, Trade and Society at the Beginning of the Late Bronze Age on Cyprus (2007). She is the author of two monographs and has contributed to and edited several volumes, including Figurine makers of prehistoric Cyprus. Settlement and cemeteries at Souskiou (E. Peltenburg, D. Bolger and L. Crewe, 2019). She has published numerous articles on Chalcolithic and Bronze Age topics including pottery and society, mortuary practices, textiles and trade. She is currently Directing excavations at the Bronze Age settlement of Kissonerga-Skalia near Paphos.

read more










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