AAP Dreamer’s Bay spring 2019 interim report 1 Akrotiri-Dreamer’s Bay (Nissarouin) Excavation & Survey, Spring 2019 Interim Report Simon James, Vicki Score & Adam Rogers With a contribution by Mireya González Rodríguez c:\users\stj3\documents\cyprus\akrotiri aap reports & publications\interim report 2019-04\dreamers bay 2019 interim.docx 17 January 2020 AAP Dreamer’s Bay spring 2019 interim report 2 Contents Summary ............................................................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................... 4 The Landscape context of Dreamer’s Bay ........................................................................................................ 5 Previous work at Dreamer’s Bay ....................................................................................................................... 7 The Ancient Akrotiri Project: objectives and previous work..................................................................... 7 Overview of the onshore excavations, 2015-2019 ............................................................................................ 9 2015 Excavations ............................................................................................................................................ 11 2016 Excavations ............................................................................................................................................ 12 2017 Excavations ............................................................................................................................................ 12 2018 Excavations ............................................................................................................................................ 13 2019 Excavations ............................................................................................................................................ 14 Methodology .................................................................................................................................................. 15 Site restoration ................................................................................................................................................ 15 April 2019 Excavation and Survey Results .................................................................................................... 16 Hilltop structures overlooking Dreamer's Bay: Area 7 ............................................................................ 16 Initial exploration, 2016-17 ....................................................................................................................... 16 2019 Excavations ........................................................................................................................................ 18 The quarry zone above Dreamer's Bay: Area 10 ....................................................................................... 26 2019 excavations ......................................................................................................................................... 28 Outreach and community engagement .......................................................................................................... 34 New archaeological heritage signage ............................................................................................................. 43 Discussion, conclusions and prospect............................................................................................................. 45 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................................... 47 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................................................... 48 On the cover: Excavators in the hilltop complex, Area 7, revealing ceramic flooring, April 2019. c:\users\stj3\documents\cyprus\akrotiri aap reports & publications\interim report 2019-04\dreamers bay 2019 interim.docx 17 January 2020 AAP Dreamer’s Bay spring 2019 interim report 3 Summary During spring 2019 the Ancient Akrotiri Project (AAP) conducted a fifth and final season of fieldwork on the ancient port at Dreamers Bay (Nissarouin), Akrotiri, at the southern tip of Cyprus. This involved a campaign of excavation and survey by a field team from the University of Leicester, with participation from colleagues from the Universities of Cyprus and Athens. The work as generously funded by the Honor Frost Foundation. This year, excavation was completed of the hilltop structural complex overlooking the low shoreline structures west of Dreamer's Bay; these structures represent multiple phases, with occupation stretching into at least the sixth century. During the season further detailed survey was also undertaken of the ancient conglomerate quarries overlooking the harbour in Dreamer's Bay itself. Trial trenching was also undertaken of masonry structures previously identified towards the eastern end of the quarry complex. These proved to be more substantial than expected, with painted wall plaster, and of imperial Roman date. The piped water supply previously identified apparently belonged to this presumed clifftop residence. Smaller masonry structures were also identified close to the water’s edge at the bottom of the quarry dump/ramp. This season also saw important steps in the project outreach programme, including an archaeological hike and public open day for residents of the airbase, and installation of new interpretative signage at Dreamer's Bay and other sites. This fifth interim report on the onshore fieldwork at Dreamer's Bay includes a summary overview the results of the five years’ work. c:\users\stj3\documents\cyprus\akrotiri aap reports & publications\interim report 2019-04\dreamers bay 2019 interim.docx 17 January 2020 AAP Dreamer’s Bay spring 2019 interim report 4 Introduction From 5-24 April 2019 the Ancient Akrotiri Project, Cyprus (AAP) conducted further terrestrial excavations and archaeological survey at and around Dreamer’s Bay, RAF Akrotiri (Figs 1 and 2). This was effectively the second of three phases of AAP fieldwork taking place during its final year of operations. It was preceded in January 2019 by a walkover survey, undertaken by a University of Leicester team seeking, on behalf of UK Ministry of Defence and in pursuit of the project’s research aims, to fix the location and assess the condition of all known archaeological sites on the peninsula. September saw a further AAP expedition, comprising a second season of underwater survey and related activities in and around the known ancient harbour at Dreamer's Bay (Blue forthcoming; for the first season, see Blue 2019). The fieldwork was conducted by a team of archaeologists from the School of Archaeology & Ancient History, University of Leicester (SAAH, UoL), UK. It was conducted with the approval of both the UK Sovereign Base Areas Administration and the Republic of Cyrus Department of Antiquities; with active support from the UK MOD’s Defence Infrastructure Organisation; and with generous assistance from RAF Akrotiri, and the President of the Western Sovereign Base Areas Archaeological Society, Maj. Frank Garrod (ret.). The work was conducted by Prof. Simon James (SAAH: project director) and volunteer professional field archaeologists mostly from SAAH‘s contracting company, University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS): Vicki Score (ULAS Deputy Director: Akrotiri field director), Donald Clark, Andy Hyam, George Issitt, Andy McLeish, Joe Peters, Dr Mireya Gonzalez Rodriguez, Dr Anna Walas, and Jodie Hannis. These also supervised a group of undergraduate students from SAAH and the University of Cyprus. Sgt Graham Moore, RAF, kindly joined the team to help with logistics and on site. Dr Adam Rogers (also SAAH) attended as research assistant to SJ for planned project publications, not least this report. The field season was designed to continue and develop work undertaken over the previous four years (James & Score 2015; 2016; 2017; 2018), to investigate and record threatened archaeological remains along the shoreline at the location known as Dreamer’s Bay; (the vicinity is known as Nissarouin, ‘the islet’ in Greek Cypriot dialect: E. Procopiou, pers. comm.). The AAP seeks to understand them as components of the wider ancient port, and to put these into the context of the settlement history of the Akrotiri peninsula as a whole. During the field season, AAP research partner Dr Lucy Blue (LB: University of Southampton) visited to discuss project progress, and planning for the second underwater season. Miltiadis Polidorou, PhD candidate geologist at the University of Athens, also joined to undertake geomorphological tasks and to discuss the planned underwater work. The project’s wider public outreach programme was also further developed, to maximise the social value of the archaeological fieldwork to local communities, both military and local civilian. c:\users\stj3\documents\cyprus\akrotiri aap reports & publications\interim report 2019-04\dreamers bay 2019 interim.docx 17 January 2020 AAP Dreamer’s Bay spring 2019 interim report 5 The Landscape context of Dreamer’s Bay Fig. 1: The location of Dreamer’s Bay on the Akrotiri