Amathous: Recent excavations at the site of Amathous-West Terrace suggest that it may have been inhabited since the 1st millennium BC, the Department of Antiquities, Deputy Ministry of Culture said in a press release.
According to Cyprus News Agency, the Department noted that the excavation, a collaboration of the French School at Athens, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Laboratoire HiSoMA, MOM, Lyon, was directed by Dr. Anna Cannav². The mission had previously carried out a limited excavation on the western slope of the Acropolis in 1976-1977, following discoveries by the Department of Antiquities in the 1960s of limestone and terracotta figurines as well as inscribed pottery fragments in this sector.
The two-year excavation conducted by Jean-Paul Thalmann in 1976-1977 brought to light an impressive wall built with well-squared limestone blocks, interpreted as a terrace or fortification wall, and two substantial deposits of material. These included sherds, figurines, a large quantity of imported Greek pottery, and local ‘Amathus-style’ pottery.
The aim of the new project launched in April 2025 was to study the flat, narrow, and long terrace overlooking the wall, to assess its nature and the possible presence of a built structure from which the two deposits uncovered in the 1970s could originate. Two test trenches were opened: one to the north, corresponding to square MB-277, and one to the south, corresponding to square MB-281. These trenches are located in the central part of the area where a preliminary geomagnetic survey indicated the presence of possible built structures.
In Trench 1, beneath a surface layer containing abundant and mixed material from the Archaic to the Late Antique periods, a collapse layer was uncovered. This layer was composed of medium and large stones, some reused from neighboring buildings, mixed with numerous fragments of tiles and transport amphorae. Below this, a complete series of collapsed roof tiles was discovered, possibly dating to the Late Roman period. The extension of the excavated area revealed a north-south oriented wall, of which only the eastern side was uncovered.
In Trench 2, a collapse layer of soft earth, small and medium coarse stones, and numerous pottery fragments was exposed beneath the surface layer in the central part of the trench. This is interpreted as the collapse of a dry-stone wall, as many such walls exist on the acropolis of Amathous. Below this collapse level, a deep layer of light brown earth and small stones was excavated to a depth of more than 1 m, without reaching the level of the natural rock.
This layer yielded many fragments of pottery dating from the Archaic to the Late Antique periods, several fragments of glass vessels, and terracotta figurines, mainly of Archaic and Classical types, which are also abundant in the surface layers of Trench 1. While the West Terrace was certainly inhabited during Late Antiquity, it is also possible that more ancient structures lie beneath the Late Antique levels.
The abundance of Iron Age material, particularly the numerous terracotta figurines, is possibly suggestive of a first-millennium BC occupation of the terrace.