pyla-vigla: life and times on a ptolemaic garrison camp in southern cyprus

7/30/2019 Pyla-Vigla: Life and Times on a Ptolemaic Garrison Camp in Southern Cyprus

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Pyla-Vigla: Life and Times on a Ptolemaic Garrison Camp in Southern Cyprus

Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Schools of Oriental ResearchNovember 2012

R. Scott Moore, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

William R. Caraher, University of North Dakota

Brandon R. Olson, Boston UniversityDavid K. Pettegrew, Messiah College

Introduction

This year marked the Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological Project's tenth season of fieldwork

and study in Cyprus. [SLIDE 2: team photo] With the support of Messiah College, Indiana

University of Pennsylvania, and the University of North Dakota, students and scholars have

worked to study the archaeological remains in the coastal zone of Pyla village. [SLIDE 3:

general map] Situated some 10 km east of ancient Kition, the site of Pyla-Vigla has produced a

robust assemblage of ancient material dating to the late Cypro-Classic to early Hellenistic

periods. The Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological Project has worked to document this material


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Resistivity and ground penetrating radar demonstrated the presence of a tangled mass of linear

anomalies on the central plateau. [SLIDE 7: Trenches and resistivity] Excavations in 2008 and

2009 determined that the linear anomalies were the walls of domestic structures built in a

number of distinct and closely related phases. The goals of the 2012 excavations were to 1)

assess the extent of the occupation of the ridge; 2) determine the occupational phases of the site

and the fortification wall; 3) clean, assess, and contextualize a looted area on the southwest slope

and explore the possibility of burials on the slope; and 4) test new documentation strategies in an

effort to supplement our traditional narrative and paper based recording system.

Excavations this summer confirmed the results of earlier soundings and anchored our

substantial assemblage of domestic ceramics in even more securely stratified contexts. This work

complemented the results of two study seasons in 2010 and 2011 that allowed us to associate the

stratified deposits with a series of discrete destruction and rebuilding events. During the course

of a decade of rigorous archaeological analyses on Vigla and the identification and

documentation of thousands of artifacts and architectural remains, we can now begin to examine


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in our digital humanities based field school in the field. The second facet of our technology

program included the testing of Agisofts PhotoScan in spatial documentation.

iPads

[SLIDE 8: Ipads] This season PKAP received 13 iPads from Messiah College for use in and out

of the field. Nine were assigned to students, who used them for reading, note-taking, completing

assignments, social media, music, and taking photos. Four were designated as field iPads for use

in our four excavation units. Loaded with generic apps such as Dropbox, Files, Evernote, and

FileApp Pro, we employed the devices for photographing fieldwork, circulating files, accessing

the excavation manual and soil description documents, and general note-taking.

Our most important app, though, was a data collection application appropriately called

PKapp. [SLIDE 9 : PKapp] Created by Samuel Fee, a professor of educational technology at

Washington and Jefferson College, PKapp was designed to collect the same information on

stratigraphic units normally collected through paper forms: information on location, elevations,


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[SLIDE 10: Group shot with the shade] With the help of a tarp and dedicated group of

staff and students, we were able to successfully implement PhotoScan, a photogrammetry

program offering a cost-efficient and easy-to-use solution to 3D modeling needs at multiple

scales of interest using digital photographs, in or excavations. The programs user interface is

ideal for practitioners at any level of computer proficiency. The program is capable of generating

incredibly accurate photorealistic models, which takes digital heritage to a new level, but we

wanted to use the technology to aid in field recording. [OPEN PDF AND NAVIGATE IT] With

the establishment of a series of ground control points, on average nine for each 5 x 5 m trench,

models produced of daily excavation units were exported as georeferenced orthophotos (accurate

top-down images embedded with a real-world coordinate system). PhotoScan-generated

georeferenced orthophotos provided a precise basis upon which highly accurate top plans were

created without resorting to hand-produced documentation or other forms of abstraction. The

spatial resolution of the images was also very good, as the exported 2D orthophoto of excavation

units averaged .65 mm. Plans drafted from a dataset produced by PhotoScan are vastly superior


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documentation. Archaeological documentation is often developed with the scholarly community

in mind. Archaeology, in addition to being a scholarly pursuit, is a public mission to reveal the

past and preserve it in a way that is culturally meaningful. Digital archaeological resources, like

those produced by PhotoScan present a new and exciting medium for the dissemination of

archaeological data and represent a valuable documentation strategy.

Life and Times at a Garrison

With an abundance of military objects, evidence of low-level manufacture, the presence of a

massive fortification system, a utilitarian based ceramic assemblage, and small domestic

quarters, we are confident that the residents of the Vigla height were engaged in military

activities.

Metal Weapons

[SLIDE 12: sling bullet] Among the more important finds of the season was a sling pellet


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production, casting at lower temps for lead using ceramic moulds, casting at higher temps for

bronze in stone moulds, and forging for iron implements, a site as small as Vigla would not have

the necessary resources to produce each variety, suggesting that the site was actively connected

to either existing trade networks or some sort of industrial quarter.

Ceramics

The ceramic assemblages associated with all three occupational levels are domestic in

character and appear to date rather narrowly to the late 4th to mid-3rd centuries. [SLIDE 15: two

lamps] Ceramic remains from the latest occupational level included a wide array of cooking

wares, imported Attic vessels, two lamps (1 Attic and 1 open form), and utility wares. Of

interesting note is the size of vessels in use for the consumption of food. [SLIDE 16: Small

vessels] While small (less than 20cm diameter) bowls, most of which are of the inturned variety,

are ubiquitous in the excavated occupational assemblages, large open vessels for table service

are, at this early stage of analysis, non-existent. A dining experience that consists of (1) small


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Attic imports do not dominate the assemblage, those living at Vigla sought out imported Attic

vessels and their imitations. All of which suggest that the community on the Vigla plateau, while

perhaps positioned to defend a vulnerable stretch of coastline, nevertheless participated in larger

patterns of Mediterranean exchange.

Architecture

[SLIDE 17: EU 15 note overburden of soil] Our work on the Viglaplateau has provided

evidence for several phases of occupation. These phases have left close to two meters of

accumulated soil sitting atop bedrock. While we have found fragments of Iron Age pottery

scattered on the ridge, the earliest architecture is consistently associated with the early

Hellenistic period.

[SLIDE 18: note stone sockle in EU 14] The first architectural evidence for settlement at the

site consists of stone sockles for mudbrick walls and packed earth and clay floors set

immediately on the bedrock, which was partially exposed across the plateau at the time of


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proper study, they will add substantially to our understanding of the date and perhaps function of

the earliest settlement on Vigla.

[SLIDE 19: note floor above phase 1 sockle and wall tip] Both of the 2012 trenches on the

ridge also confirmed the presence of a second phase of activities on Vigla that appears to have

followed very quickly on the destruction of Phase 1. With the destruction of Phase 1, the

residents leveled the destruction debris, often using it for sub-floor packing, and continued the

tradition of mudbrick walls set on stone sockles and packed earth floors sealed with lime. Like

Phase 1, Phase 2 appears to have come to an abrupt end in nearly all the trenches. EU15 featured

a particularly well-preserved wall tip that shows the violent impact of the wall on the lime plaster

floor. [SLIDE 20: Note paving slab] At the same time, EU14 suggested that the building erected

in Phase 2 may have stood for some time as they were modified in a systematic way prior to its

final destruction. The excavations in 2008, 2009, and 2012 have produced ceramic assemblages

that are difficult to distinguish from the earlier phase of occupation suggesting that Phase 2 was

in the late 4th to mid 3rd century as well.


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excavations at Vigla have produced no good evidence for architectural phases dating before or

after the Hellenistic period, despite the presence of Late Bronze Age material atKokkinokremos,

the presence ofIron Age pottery in the Pyla region, and substantial town of Roman and Late

Roman date on theKoutsopetriaplain.

Rather, the occupation ofVigla appears to be narrowly focused on the early Hellenistic age.

Coins of Alexander on floor surfaces most likely date to the last decades of the fourth or early

decades of the third century, and this accords well with the ceramic assemblage so far analyzed.

Moreover, the late 4th to early 3rd century is the most plausible period historically for the rapid

process of construction, destruction, and re-occupation. The presence of a now infilled

embayment at the site made it a strategically valuable stretch of coastline. The massive

investment in fortification would perhaps fit best into the last years of the kingdom of Kition

when the Antigonid-allied city attempted to secure its coastline from the inevitable Ptolemaic

invasion. When the city fell to the Ptolemies, there was every reason for the new rulers of the

island to seek to defend an important coastal site that could secure overland routes to the flanks


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R. Scott Moore, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

William R. Caraher, University of North Dakota

Brandon R. Olson, Boston University

David K. Pettegrew, Messiah College


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pyla-vigla: life and times on a ptolemaic garrison camp in southern cyprus

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