Nicosia: The Department of Antiquities of the Deputy Ministry of Culture has announced the discovery of the oldest known Iron Age palace in Cyprus, following the recent excavation campaign at the Amathus Palace. The campaign, conducted from June 16 to July 4, 2025, was led by Professor Thierry Petit of Laval University and Jean-Fran§ois Guay of the French School of Athens.
According to Cyprus News Agency, the excavation focused on uncovering the northeast corners of two rooms that form the initial monumental phase of the Amathus Palace. The effort successfully revealed the complete plan of the palace’s ceremonial gallery, dating back to the late 9th century BC, marking it as the oldest known Iron Age palace on the island.
Significant findings include limestone paving in zone 35 and well-preserved walls in zone 36, despite some damage over time. The meticulous cutting of bedrock to form room floors offers valuable insights into the original structure and architectural techniques of the era.
The study campaign, which continued from June 16 to July 18, 2025, was supervised by Antigone Marangou, Professor at the University of Rennes 2, and Thierry Petit. The examination of artifacts unearthed during previous campaigns concentrated particularly on Attic black-figure and red-figure pottery.
Louise Detrez, Curator at the Cabinet des M©dailles of the Biblioth¨que nationale de France, established that this pottery spans from 570-550 to the mid-4th century BC. The study revealed that this collection is the most significant of its kind currently known on the island, especially the oldest of these vases, a large volute krater that would rival even the most famous counterparts, such as the Fran§ois Vase, the Department of Antiquities noted.
Additional studies have been conducted on various materials such as amphora ceramics by A. Marangou, architecture, stratigraphy, unfigured Attic black glazed pottery, Hellenistic slip pottery, and terra sigillata by Th. Petit, as well as pedology, anthracology, and carpology by Maria Roussou, a postdoctoral researcher at the Malcolm H. Wiener laboratory, American School of Classical Studies in Athens, and associate researcher at UMR 7209 BioArch, MNHN, CNRS, Paris. Research on textile crafts was carried out by Lise L©vªque, a doctoral student at the University of Rennes 2.