Recent Results of Excavations at Prastio-Mesorotsos, Cyprus

Dr. Andrew McCarthy BA PhD RPA FSA Scot (University of Edinburgh)
When: November 17, 2009 at 8 p.m.
Where: Miller Hall Room 114

Cyprus is the acknowledged birthplace of Aphrodite, and Old Paphos (Kouklia) is the site of her most important temple in antiquity. In the Late Bronze Age (circa 1200 BC) the first Sanctuary of Wanassa (later identified as Aphrodite) was erected on sterile ground at the same time as the newly established city of Paphos was expanding to urban proportions. The evidence for what followed is much clearer than what came before, and little is known about the people who founded the Cult of Aphrodite and populated this urban center. The Prastio-Mesorotsos Archaeological Expedition is seeking to expand our knowledge of the history and pre-history of this region by examining a community that has a probable 10,000 years of nearly unbroken occupation, making it among the longest-lived sites in the world. Notably, the only significant period of abandonment is in the Late Bronze Age. Were the inhabitants of this rural village the ancestors of Aphrodite and the future Priestesses and Priest-Kings of Paphos, or were they conquered by invaders from abroad?