Archaeology Odyssey, November/December 2002
Features
Cypriot Land Mines
Military, political and archaeological
We couldn’t get to the fifth-century B.C. tomb at Pyla, said to be one of the finest of the period, because minefields were being cleared that day and the road was closed. Pyla, on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, lies near the border between the Republic of...Read more ›
The Guardians of Tamassos
Rescuing Cyprus’s 2,500-year-old sphinxes and lions
On a cold and rainy morning in January 1997, I received a phone call from Orthodoxos Liasides, the foreman of a maintenance crew working on the monumental tombs of Tamassos, 15 miles southwest of Nicosia. The men were insulating the tombs from the destructive effects of dampness...Read more ›
Was She Really Stoned?
The oracle of Delphi
Archaeologists are good at recovering things left behind by the past, such as buildings, incense altars, tools and relief carvings. What they are not so good at recovering are the ideas, feelings and emotions—the innerness—of sentient ancient beings. It’s one thing to examine a...Read more ›