Swedish Cyprus Expedition

The Swedish Cyprus Expedition

From the left: John Lindros, Alfred Westholm, Erik Sjöqvist och Einar Gjerstad. Mersinaki, 1930.
Country	Sweden
Leader	Einar Gjerstad
Start	Cyprus September 1927
End	Sweden March 1931
Goal	To obtain more knowledge of living areas, temples, and graves from the Stone Age to the Roman times on Cyprus
Crew	Alfred Westholm, Erik Sjöqvist and John Lindros
Achievements	Mapped Cyprus' ancient history Concluded that the distinctive culture of early Cyprus had been created in close contact with various cultures from the Middle East and the western Mediterranean areas.

The Swedish Cyprus Expedition was assembled to systematically investigate Cyprus’s early archaeological history. The expedition occurred between September 1927 and March 1931 and was led by the three archaeologists Einar Gjerstad, Erik Sjöqvist and Alfred Westholm together with the architect John Lindros who photographed during their time in Cyprus.^[1] The excavation constitutes the foundation of modern archaeology in Cyprus. The results of the excavations revealed that the distinctive culture of early Cyprus had been created in close contact with various cultures from the Middle East and the western Mediterranean areas.^[2][3]

Through careful archaeological excavations around the whole island of Cyprus, the Swedish Cyprus Expedition mapped Cyprus's history from the Stone Age to the end of the Roman period. Archaeological excavations were made at various locations in Cyprus including Lapithos, Nitovikla, Agia Eirini, Marion, Idalion, Amathus, and Enkomi. They investigaed around 25 sites all over the island during the short time of four years.^[3] The results were published in four volumes. Most of the archaeological materials are now kept at the Cyprus Museum in Nicosia and Medelhavsmuseet in Stockholm.^[1]

The goal of the excavation was to obtain more knowledge of how people lived, their religious practices as well as burial practices during the Stone Age until the Roman period. Therefore they excavated settlements, temples, graves, forts, a palace complex, and a Roman theatre.^[1] Additionally, they investigated Cyprus’s neolithic living areas which were previously unknown.^[3] Because the Swedish archaeologists were very inspired by Oscar Montelius, they worked systematically both during the excavations and publications. Einar Gjerstad applied Montelius' classification when he divided Cypriot pottery from the Bronze and Iron Ages into the phases "early", "middle" and "late". These divisions are still widely accepted. Montelius' extensive use of "closed contexts" to establish typological sequences lies behind the Swedish Cyprus Expedition's methods and results.^[4][3] To be able to create a chronology and a typology of the archaeological material they dug out close to 375 graves from different periods. Among other things, the graves contained around 10,000 ceramic vases. At religious places such as the places of worship and temple areas, they found thousands of sculptures made of stone and terracotta.

The Swedish archaeologist’s families came along to Cyprus, therefore Rosa Lindros, Vivi Gjerstad and her children as well as their nanny Gudrun Atterman can be seen in the pictures from the excavation. The expedition’s chauffeur Toulis Souidos was a Cypriot man who helped with various things during the expedition, such as conservation work, for example.^[5] Later he followed the expedition back to Sweden where he continued to work with the Cyprus collections.^[5] Furthermore, the expedition could never have happened without all the other men and women who worked at the excavations.