Blog
The field season 2024 of the Berlin-Idalion-Project (BIP), carried out in collaboration between the Department of Archaeology of Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin (Germany) and the University of Cyprus, and under the auspices of the Department of Antiquities of the Republic of Cyprus, lasted from September 10 to October 10 2024. As […]
Berlin Idalion Project (BIP) – Field Season 2024
In contrary to the last week, the third week remains rain-free. Instead, we had a lot of visitors on our site, some of them from high places. On the one hand, students from the University of Cyprus came to visit us for the second time to help excavate and explore […]
BIP 2024 – Excavation Week 3 – Visiting Week
In the second week of excavation, the first excavators find the bedrock of their 2.5 x 2.5 m cuts and can therefore proceed directly to the next small cuts. Excavators creating a 3D model of the bedrock One of our sections has some structures that were already […]
BIP 2024 – Excavation Week 2 – Niche finds
After a day of flying and successfully receiving all of the participants’ suitcases, it’s off to the annual accommodation and this year’s Berlin Idalion Project (BIP) campaign can begin. This years BIP team working on the site In our excavation house, the shed with the excavation equipment is […]
BIP 2024 – Excavation Week 1 – The annual arrival
Our last week started with a visit to the polish excavation under the direction of Prof. Dr. Evdoxia Papuci-Wladyka in Nea Paphos, from which we took away many interesting impressions and exciting insights. Afterwards the storm continued and we had to stop excavation activities for one day, because we could have […]
Excavations in Ancient Idalion 2023 – Goodbye
For those who are soccer or sports fans, or simply old enough, the name Michel Platini will not be unknown. However, many of our team members did not know the famous soccer player from the 1980s, but that changed quite quickly with a visit to the Platini Museum in Mosfiloti. […]
Excavations in Ancient Idalion 2023 – Between Platini and the ...
While many trenches steadily extract limestones, terracottas and ceramics, one of our trenches is all about one thing in particular. Walls. The wall, which already passed through one of our trenches last year, can now be followed in the next one as well. And after the gray hard layer was […]
Excavations in Ancient Idalion 2023 – Walls and trips
At the beginning of September, our team leaves for hot Cyprus (according to some native Cypriots, it is actually already quite cool) to start our fourth excavation campaign. Due to the generous support of the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus and our partners, the University of Cyprus (Nicosia) and the […]
Excavations in Ancient Idalion 2023 – A start with obstacles
2022 season of the Berlin-Idalion-Project’s excavations on the Eastern Acropolis (Mouti tou Avrili) of Idalion Introduction 2022 saw the third excavation season on the eastern acropolis (Mouti tou Avrili) of ancient Idalion by a team composed of members from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the University of Cyprus. The […]
Excavations in Ancient Idalion – Introduction 2022
After intensive work during the week, our team still has an adventurous weekend programme. The first weekend is affected by recurring rain showers, but is nevertheless used to visit Salamis, partly in the rain, and then to search for sanctuaries and necropolises on the coast of Cyprus. At the first […]
Study Season March 2023 – Part 2
With the generous support of the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus, our team is able to set off on their second BIP (Berlin Idalion Project) Study Season. So we were sent off from Berlin, still quite cold, to receive a warm welcome in Cyprus. After our first night in our […]
Study Season March 2023 – Part 1
Slowly, after the last visits have departed, the last finds have been bagged in the middle of the night and the first excavators have already gone home, we have to think about saying goodbye. A farewell, not for long, and yet a hard one. Within the last four weeks many […]
Excavations in Ancient Idalion – Week 4 – Goodbye
With the fourth and for us last week the final spurt begins and probably the most stressful week of the campaign. The last pottery sherds are counted, the last terracottas weighed and the last limestones brushed. Nevertheless, the scientific exchange does not miss out, because in the last week […]
Excavations in Ancient Idalion – Week 4 – final spurt
Of course, an excavation is not only about the purely scientific aspect, although that is without question at the top of the list, but it is also very much about social interaction. People who are at very different points in their lives come together to live with each other in […]
Excavations in Ancient Idalion – Week 3 – social side
While on the one hand we had to say goodbye to two excavators from our team, on the other hand we were pleased to welcome our reinforcement from Sorrent to the team. This also brings into our midst a practice that is becoming more and more important and adapted to […]
Excavations in Ancient Idalion – Week 3 – Goodbye and ...
Besides an excessive amount of pottery and terracotta, our team also finds numerous limestone fragments. In our disco ball section (see previous post), the first ever inscription on a limestone base, not yet fully unraveled, was found, which caused great joy among us excavators. In the section with the architectural […]
Excavations in Ancient Idalion – Week 2 – The Finds
In rhythmic beat of the music, sometimes faster, sometimes slower, depending on who is currently wishing for music, our three cuts become deeper and deeper. While at one end of the cuts more and more limestone statuettes, terracotta fragments and a disco ball (an ominous and glittering stone) are found, […]
Excavations in Ancient Idalion – Week 2 – Rhythm
Between frequent petting of the cats around, we work diligently and energetically with pickaxe, shovel and trowel to remove the earth bit by bit. During the week, the surveyors from Limassol come to our aid and check our recovered points. After several limestone, pottery and terracotta finds, the team, in […]
Excavations in Ancient Idalion – Week 1 – Settling in
Since 2018 the Berlin Idalion Project (BIP) is undertaking archaeological field work at Idalion, trying to put the activities of Max Ohnefalsch-Richter (1850-1917) within the art of archaeological context. The Project is carried out with the kind authorization of the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus and in cooperation with our Partners […]
Excavations in ancient Idalion 2022 – Week 1 – The ...
We’re looking forward to share some impressions of our future field work, here.