Nation,narrative and commemoration: political ritual in divided Cyprus

This article examines the issue of political commemoration, focusing on the commemorations organized by different political parties in the two sides of divided Cyprus. It suggests a new analytical framework for the study of ritual in contemporary nation‐states that moves beyond the usual examination of any single ritual on its own terms. The use of comparison, both within each side and between the two sides, reveals how political actors stage commemorations of different historical events in order to propose contesting historical narratives. Hence, the meaning of any commemorative ritual can be understood only as part of the broader story that each narrative proposes. The historical narratives proposed by different political actors share certain common characteristics by virtue of all employing the narrative form: a beginning, a plot, certain categories of actors, the spatial location where history unfolds, the moral centre through which events are to be evaluated and the end. However, each narrative suggests a different story through which issues of identity and “otherness”, self‐justification and blame are negotiated in order to define the “imagined community” of the nation, its enemies and its pertinent history.     

World Heritage as a Model for Citizenship: the case of Cyprus

This paper explores the imaginative spaces in which world heritage is constructed and consumed: on the one hand, as the landmarks of a 'global landscape' mediated through the virtual mobility of cyberspace, essentially freed from 'place' or location; on the other hand, as the place-bound focus of nation-building projects, where the narratives of 'destiny' of nationalist mythology confront the serendipity of modern state boundaries. The paper links these two aspects of 'World Heritage' to two contrasting models of citizenship, one of which is rooted in the ideal of an inclusive democratic world citizenry, whilst the other is tied to more exclusive notions of citizenship attached to membership of specific nation-states and riven by boundaries of ethnicity, religion, state and class. Taking the case of Cyprus, the paper examines the ways in which these discourses of the global and the national, of heritage and citizenship, are mobilised by different groups as symbolic resources in the politics of this divided island.     

Maritime Archaeology and Maritime Heritage Protection in the Disputed Territory of Northern Cyprus

Between 1967 and 1974, the island of Cyprus was a centre of maritime archaeology in the eastern Mediterranean. Individuals such as Michael and Susan Katzev, George Bass, Jeremy Green and Richard Steffy were living on and visiting the island, and testing and developing methods still common in the discipline. The hostilities on Cyprus in the summer of 1974 and the implementation of international regulations limiting archaeological work in the northern portion of the island, however, had repercussions still evident today. This article summarizes past maritime archaeological work along the northern coastline, addresses the regulations limiting archaeological activity in the region and discusses a new training program licensed by the Nautical Archaeology Society aiding in the protection of the island’s maritime heritage representing approximately 10,000 years of activity.

Maps, Fields, and Boundary Cairns: Demarcation and Resistance in Colonial Cyprus

An important component of the administration and control of a colony by an external power is the demarcation and classification of the land and its people. This was certainly the case in Cyprus under British colonial rule (1878–1960), as three case studies demonstrate: the topographical survey of the island by H. H. Kitchener in 1878–83; the cadastral survey of 1909–29; and the work of the Forest Delimitation Commission from 1881 to 1896. This was not achieved without resistance on a variety of levels. Ironically, part of the opposition came from the structure of the colonial demarcation and classification project itself.     

The role of the museum in interpretation: The problem of context

The key questions in interpreting objects in museums are: What are they doing there? and Where did they come from? National and local importance are not mutually exclusive: the critical difference is between intrinsic value, and value through context or association. Context is an integral part of interpretation. Experts can visualise an original location or environment; ordinary museum visitors need the context of people, or place, or familiar activities, to be able to relate to unfamiliar objects. Is seeing a good replica as good as seeing the original?     

麦克米伦政府与塞浦路斯独立

麦克米伦执政时期,塞浦路斯已成为英国的一种负担。岛内希腊族人要求归并希腊,为此与土耳其族人、英国殖民当局发生的武装冲突愈演愈烈。由于希腊和土耳其的介入,塞浦路斯问题日益复杂化和国际化。出于现实的考虑,麦克米伦政府不断修改对塞浦路斯的政策,最终在保留英国军事基地主权的前提下同意塞浦路斯独立。英国由此从塞浦路斯的泥淖中得以脱身,塞浦路斯岛内则获得了短暂的和平。     

Sense and sensitivity: Appraising the Titanic

Abstract

The first substantial exhibition of material retrieved from the wreck of the Titanic was mounted by the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, in October 1994. Extended for a second six‐month run the following April, this was to be the most popular exhibition the museum had ever staged, helping to attract some 720,000 people through the turnstiles during the year. It also generated an unprecedented level of media attention, particularly in the period leading up to the opening, placing a wide ranging (but ultimately soft) focus on the museum's motivation for proceeding into the deep waters of apparently delicate subject matter. Indeed, the controversy of the exhibition —a phenomenon partly created, developed and sustained by the media itself — not only formed a backdrop to the planning, design and installation of the show; to some extent the displays, their effects and their meanings became dependent on the context of argument and rhetoric in which they were generated. In the curators’ attempts to reconcile appropriately the often‐competing demands of the museum market of professional ethics, economics, and contemporary standards of taste and morality, it may be asked whether the National Maritime Museum was passenger or pilot in the stormy waters it encountered through this project. Moreover, what was the true nature and consequence of the unrest: a minor local difficulty or a museological issue of some significance? This article is an attempt, despite the probable partisanship of its author, to explore with some of the objectivity of hindsight these questions and the circumstances in which they arose. ¹     

'On of the Princypalle Havenes of the See': The Port of Famagusta and the Ship Graffiti in the Church of St George of the Greeks, Cyprus

In its 1000-year history the port has been the source of triumph and tragedy for the city of Famagusta, being the conduit through which flowed both enormous wealth and destruction. Today the French medieval and Greek Orthodox churches, and the Venetian walls, though ruined, still carry physical traces of this turbulent society in the form of ship graffiti. Though such images are often classified as 'low-art', they are nevertheless imbued with a deep social significance, which the maritime historian can yet use to get a glimpse of an important, though virtually-forgotten, heritage in the Eastern Mediterranean.
© 2007 The Author     

Geoarchaeological approaches to the environmental history of Cyprus: explication and critical evaluation

Geoarchaeology represents crossdisciplinary research focused on environmental issues and human activities, and directed primarily to social scientists. Site micro-studies are central to the enterprise, emphasizing cultural sediments and the taphonomic record of site formation, preservation, or destruction. But when expanded to include off-site investigation and watershed studies, geoarchaeology can go well beyond stratigraphy and context, to address human impacts on the environment or long-term sustainability. This paper articulates a research agenda to evaluate the largely anecdotal premise that the island of Cyprus has been degraded by millennia of improvident land use. First, it outlines Holocene settlement, land use and forest histories, as a differentiated model against which to apply specific types of investigation, and in conjunction with other archaeological sciences. Second, it applies Quaternary-style watershed study to confront commonplace misunderstandings about possible degradation, to show that most of the slope and stream deposits on Cyprus are of Pleistocene age. Third, it switches to examples of site micro-geoarchaeology to illustrate the possibilities of understanding detailed change. The purpose is heuristic, in the absence of many more site and off-site studies that incorporate bioarchaeology. Provisional inferences suggest that environmental damage may be limited, that even with heavy land-use stress, climatic triggers were critical to inaugurate change, and that the system may be more resilient than anticipated. Such caveats may encourage greater attention to environmental research design in ongoing and future excavation projects.     

The class route to nationhood: China,Vietnam, Norway,Cyprus – and France*

ABSTRACT. This essay explores the proposition that China and Vietnam represent a fourth class route to modern nationhood, in addition to the ethnic (German), civic (French) and plural (American) routes. Nation‐states emerging along the class route are characterised by an exclusive membership based on social class rather than just ethnicity, living under the same laws or participation in liberation from foreign rule. The essay compares China's and Vietnam's class‐based nationalism with the more inclusive labour movement nationalisms of Norway and Cyprus. Then it explains how the class route differs from the French civic route. In the conclusion, the author concedes that the Chinese and Vietnamese class route is perhaps a detour rather than a route of its own, since it leads to inevitable tension between the divisive history of how the nation was formed and the need of its later leaders to include and represent the same social classes that were originally excluded. These leaders and their national storytellers are forced to undertake a redefinition of the national self as ethnic, civic and/or plural in an attempt to recreate national legitimacy, often in competition with more radically nationalist opposition groups.     

The Problem of the Missing Harbour of Evagoras at Salamis,Cyprus: a review of the evidence and pointers to a solution

This article summarises the archaeological evidence for the existence of Evagoras' naval harbour at Salamis in North Cyprus, which ancient texts credit him with building c.410–400 BC. Based on a critical examination of previous surveys and his own on‐site observations, the author concludes there is indicative evidence of a constructed harbour c.800 m long, which was divided into two basins by a stone jetty, separated from the city by a stone wall and with some evidence of ship‐sheds at its north end. © 2012 The Author     

The prehistory of Cyprus: Problems and prospects

The archaeological record of prehistoric Cyprus is rich, diverse, well-published, and frequently enigmatic. Regarded by many as a bridge between western Asia and the Aegean, Cyprus and its past are frequently seen from scholarly perspectives prevalent in one of those two cultural areas. Its material culture, however, differs radically from that of either area. Apart from the early colonization episodes on the island (perhaps three during the pre-Neolithic and Neolithic), evidence of foreign contact remains limited until the Bronze Age (post-2500 B. C.). This study seeks to present the prehistory of Cyprus from an indigenous perspective, and to examine a series of archaeological problems that foreground Cyprus within its eastern Mediterranean context. The study begins with an overview of time, place, and the nature of fieldwork on the island, continues with a presentation and discussion of several significant issues in Cypriot prehistory (e.g., insularity, colonization, subsistence, regionalism, interaction, social complexity, economic diversity), and concludes with a brief discussion of prospects for the archaeology of Cyprus up to and beyond 2000.     

Pottery production and distribution in prehistoric Bronze Age Cyprus. An application of pXRF analysis

Portable X-ray Fluorescence (pXRF) analysis of over 400 samples of Early and Middle Bronze Age Cypriot pottery from four widely separated sites identifies both local and non-local products at each. A series of analyses of sub-sets of the data highlights differences in the clays used at each site and for some distinctive types and wares. When assessed in the context of general typological, technological and stylistic factors these variations provide the basis for considering patterns of local production and inter-regional relationships across the island. Although the great majority of pots were locally made, particular wares and shapes were brought in from elsewhere. For some sites finer, more highly decorated vessels are mostly imports, but at others both simpler and more complex vessels were made of the same local clays. While small juglets or flasks may have been containers for transporting small quantities of rare substances, larger vessels are likely to have held less precious material. Open vessels, especially small bowls – some of which are plain, utilitarian items – represent another aspect of social behaviour and inter-regional relationships.     

From an Inconsequential Legacy to National Heritage: Revisiting the Conservation Approaches Towards the Ottoman Buildings in British Colonial Cyprus

Cyprus came under British control in 1878. At this time the Western-based orientalist mind-set, which saw ‘Ottoman’ as a synonym for stagnation was at its zenith, and this view was strategically disseminated as the European empires expanded. This also coincided with the evolution of the ethnic-nationalism that facilitated the formation of national heritage constructs. By analysing the case of Cyprus, a place which is entangled with British colonial governance as well as revolutionary Turkey, this paper aims to widen the discussion on the conservation trajectory of the Ottoman built heritage in post-Ottoman environments. Approaches to the restoration, interpretation, and management of Cyprus’s Ottoman buildings between 1878 and 1960 are dissected, assessed and categorized through British-era archival collections. The history of conservation practices is contextualised in changing political and professional perspectives, which reveal the role of Eurocentric paradigms of orientalism and nationalism in managing the perception and treatment processes of Ottoman-built heritage.     

Integrated geological,petrologic and geochemical approach to establish source material and technology of Late Cypriot Bronze Age Plain White ware ceramics

Late Cypriot Bronze Age Plain White Wheelmade ware samples from several Cypriot excavation sites and the northern Canaanite coast were studied to ascertain their production centres and details of their manufacturing processes and post-depositional alteration. The investigation of the ceramics, using combined geoscientific analytical techniques (XRF, ICP-MS, XRD and EPMA) allowed four groups of pottery to be distinguished based on their common raw-material sources and/or technological analogies. Sediments that were sampled in East Cyprus (eastern Mesaoria Plain) for comparative purposes indicated that most of the investigated ceramics were produced from raw materials available around the ancient settlement of Enkomi. Appraising technological variations and discriminative raw-material characteristics, several pottery producing workshops in ancient Enkomi (Eastern Cypriot coast) have been identified that merchandised their commodities on Cyprus and, in all probability, also overseas.     

Heritage,Tourism and Museums: the case of the North Atlantic islands of Skye,Scotland and Prince Edward Island,Canada

Heritage tourism, and the products and experiences related to it, represent a growing attraction in international tourism and the museum is a potential partner in the development of heritage activities for tourists. This paper explores the relationship between tourism and museums and analyses their roles in relation to heritage. It recognises that the shared characteristics of tourism and museums provide a basis for the two to work together in the development of heritage tourism. This exploration is illustrated by the comparison of case studies of legislated museum provision and their relation to tourism on two North Atlantic islands. In conclusion, the paper argues that while in some cases museums may be seen as somewhat reluctant partners in the process of heritage tourism they are in fact constrained by traditional roles and responsibilities and influenced by both differing jurisdictional contexts and views as to their functions.     

The 4th-century B.C. shipwreck at Mazotos,Cyprus: New techniques and methodologies in the 3D mapping of shipwreck excavations

Abstract

Well preserved ancient shipwrecks are rare in the archaeological record, but when discovered, they can provide valuable information on a wide range of research issues if analyzed and documented properly. In this paper we discuss the significance, potential, and constraints of mapping methods applied during the underwater excavation of shipwreck sites with special emphasis on stratigraphy, documentation of finds, and reconstruction of site formation processes. As a case study, we present the digital photogrammetry and computer vision software programs used in the excavation of the 4th-century b.c. shipwreck at Mazotos, Cyprus. Our goal is to develop a targeted documentation and mapping method of ongoing shipwreck excavations so that others can address complex research questions concerning this unique discipline of archaeology.     

Learning to think the past: Heritage,identity and state education in Wales

Abstract

Despite its problematic nature, the term Celtic is often linked with Wales and its history. Commonly regarded as a Celtic nation, the concept has been used to engender a sense of identity and also a sense of difference between Wales and other parts of the British Isles, particularly with England. As the national curriculum has been adapted to the needs of schools in Wales, some of these aims and objectives have been made explicit in many parts of the syllabus. Heritage sites in Wales also relate their history and present archaeology to a Celtic past and a case study of a specific site in Pembrokeshire is used to exemplify this approach. There is evidence that children find these portrayals of their past, as contained in the teaching in schools and site visits, interesting and informative. The dangers lie in the over‐simplification of the contested concept of Celticity and in the shortage of good evaluative assessments of these learning to think approaches.