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Souskiou-Vathyrkakas
is a unique prehistoric site in Cyprus located on
a ridge in the hilly terrain behind the Temple of
Aphrodite at Palaepaphos (modern Kouklia). It is the only known cemetery of the Chalcolithic
period (c.
3800-2400 BCE), a time when the dead were normally
buried inside villages, and it is extraordinarily
rich in terms of stylized human representations,
bizarre zoomorphic vessels, necklaces of dentalium
shells and pendants, and metalwork. In
spite of several excavations at the site, there
has never been a final excavation report. The SVPP seeks to redress the absence of scientific data from Souskiou
through the analysis and publication of excavated
material.
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The
excavations at Souskiou-Vathyrkakas, which have
yielded some 70 tombs, were conducted by four missions
over the course of nearly half a century. In accordance
with a policy of publishing unpublished excavations,
the Director of the Department of Antiquities of
Cyprus requested that a team of specialists be assembled
to produce a final report.
With the generous support of a grant from
the White-Levy
Foundation, the SVPP was
established in 2002 under the general direction
of Prof. Edgar Peltenburg of the University of Edinburgh. While the project is based at Edinburgh, scholars of several nationalities
(British Canadian, Cypriot and American) are involved
in the publication.
The report, entitled The Chalcolithic Cemetery of Souskiou-Vathyrkakas,
Cyprus. Results
of the Work of Four Missions, from 1951 to 1997,
will appear as a monograph issued by the Department
of Antiquities, Government of Cyprus.
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