This thesis is based around detailed analysis of an assemblage of newly excavated material from the Paphos Theatre site in SW Cyprus. Before presenting the new work, the academic context into which it must fit is investigated. This process of re-evaluating past work sets up a framework within which the new material would be expected to fit. In fact, research on Late Roman Cyprus is not as advanced as might be expected after over seventy years of excavation. This is most particularly the case for fundamental principles like typology and chronology for the local ceramics and glass. A review of past and current excavations shows that the typology of Cypriot Red Slip ware is widely used around the Eastern Mediterranean as a dating tool for deposits containing this distinctive Fine ware. This makes it essential that it be confirmed to be a reliable and substantially correct construct. Unfortunately, a re-analysis of the foundations of the Cypriot red Slip ware typology and chronology reveals many uncertainties and establishes the necessity for new material from secure deposits to help refine current typologies. The artefact assemblage from Area Three at the Paphos Theatre provides just such an opportunity. A combination of a series of sealed deposits, a high density of artifacts and identifiable coins has enabled a comprehensive study to be achieved. A major collapse, probably an earthquake, sealed a paved street and drainage system in the trenches and this episode can be pinpointed to around the mid to late fifth century by the coin evidence. Most interesting is the fact that the dating suggested by the coins does not match the dating usually assigned to the associated pottery and glass. After establishing the reliability of the coin evidence, the study of the other artefacts offers new ideas about the dating and typology of the local Cypriot Red Slip ware, Cooking ware, Lamps and Glass. In fact an analysis of all the pottery from the site suggests that the chronology of Cypriot Red Slip ware and Cooking ware in particular needs to be pushed back to focus on a floruit in the fourth and fifth centuries. This is at least one hundred years earlier than current typologies that focus on the mid sixth to seventh centuries. This analysis provides some reliable fixed points, for both local pottery and glass, earlier in the Late Roman sequence upon which future work can be built.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/283110 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Rowe, Andrea Helen |
| Publisher | University of Sydney. Department of Classical Archaeology |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English, en_AU |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright Rowe, Andrea Helen;http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/copyright.html |
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