| dc.description.abstract | During the summers of 2003 and 2004, a small team of graduate students
initiated an underwater archaeological survey off the coast of Cyprus as part of the
University of Cincinnati excavations at Episkopi-Bamboula. With the support of the
Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) at Texas A&M University and RPM Nautical
Foundation, the project explored the seabed south and west of the Akrotiri Peninsula at
Episkopi Bay. The overall aim of this ongoing diachronic survey is to determine the
extent and nature of maritime contacts at Episkopi-Bamboula and its Greco-Roman
successor, Kourion, from the Bronze Age through the Byzantine period.
Efforts during these first two seasons concentrated on simple visual inspection of
several promising areas near dangerous cliffs, offshore rocks and shallow reefs, as well
as potential harbors and anchorages. The team recorded substantial pottery and anchor
assemblages at Dreamer?s Bay, Cape Zevgari, and Avdimou Bay, including at least three
shipwreck sites. Throughout the area, amphoras and anchors attest to varying levels of
maritime activity over the past three millennia.The underwater material record reveals a modest level of Classical trade,
followed by a respectable increase during the Hellenistic era. While very little material
thus far can be attributed to the earlier Imperial centuries, the greatest quantities in terms
of both individual sherds and coherent assemblages speaks strongly to intense trade
during the Late Roman (Early Byzantine) period, from the fourth through the seventh
century. Not surprisingly, this rapid floruit in maritime trade parallels the expansion of
settlement throughout the island, including its eventual collapse in the middle of the
seventh century. | en |
