The Archaeological Activities of the Scott-Stevensons in Cyprus, 1878–1883

Abstract

The British administration of Cyprus from July 1878 marked the beginning of the end of the ‘mythical age’ of Cypriot archaeology, as it was characterised by the British archaeologist John Linton Myres (1869–1954) (Myres and Ohnefalsch-Richter 1899). Prior to this, Ottoman laws governing the excavation and export of antiquities were in operation, but not always consistently enforced. Some collectors managed to remove huge numbers of objects, most notoriously the Italian-American consul Luigi Palma di Cesnola (1832–1904) whose Cypriot antiquities formed the founding collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and his brother Alessandro (1839–1914) (Goring 1988; Kiely and Ulbrich 2012; Masson 1992). After the advent of the British administration, the official position was initially to ban private excavation (Myres and Ohnefalsch-Richter 1899: vi), though this ban appears to have been lifted around May 1879 (Stanley-Price 2001: 269). Small-scale exploration was undertaken by the German archaeologist Max Ohnefalsch-Richter, on behalf of museums and private individuals (Stanley-Price 2001, 2018). The first British-led larger scale excavations under the new regime, in 1882, were proposed by Lieutenant Herbert Kitchener (1850–1916), Director of Survey, and supervised by the colonial administrator George Gordon Hake (1847–1903). Funded by the South Kensington Museum rather than the British Museum, they focused on obtaining aesthetically pleasing objects rather than archaeological recording (Bailey 1965; Kiely 2011). The Cyprus Museum, the first national institution for discovering, storing, displaying and studying the island’s antiquities, was founded in 1882, and under the Ottoman Law of Antiquities of 1874 had first claim on one-third of finds excavated through private initiatives, and ownership of all the products of any excavations it sponsored (StanleyPrice 2001: 270). However, it was stymied by lack of funds, affecting its ability to undertake excavations, provide proper facilities for storage and display, and ensure that its dues from private excavations were collected (Myres and Ohnefalsch-Richter 1899: vi). The early years of the British administration were characterised by an unfocused and casual approach to excavating antiquities. For the new administration, grappling with a range of complex issues and hampered by limited funding, proper governance of antiquities was not a high priority. Meanwhile, military and civilian officials posted to Cyprus purchased antiquities from local excavators and collectors and explored its archaeology, considered to be one of the leisure activities afforded by the island, in a spirit of idle enquiry. Spending a limited amount of time on the island – sometimes just a few months – these temporary residents lacked the opportunities of earlier consular collectors and local antiquarians to build up expertise and an appreciation of the island’s history. University of Leeds, GB anna.h.reeve@gmail.com Reeve, A. 2020. The Archaeological Activities of the Scott-Stevensons in Cyprus, 1878–1883. Bulletin of the History of Archaeology, 30(1): 7, pp. 1–13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/bha-629 Bulletin of the History of Archaeology