Address by Professor Edgar Peltenburg on the occasion of the handing over of the excavation records of the archaeological investigation at Agios Epiktetos-Vrysi

Press and Information Office, Cyprus, 21-10-2011

In 1969 the Department of Antiquities, under the directorship of Dr Vassos Karageorghis, issued a Licence for the University of Birmingham, England, to undertake excavations at the Neolithic village of Agios Epiktetos-Vrysi. The village is located in the Kyrenia District some 10 km East of Kyrenia where over 6000 year ago people chose to live on a coastal headland between two beaches. The archaeological excavations of this community were conducted each summer from 1969 to 1973. A team was in place to start the next season in 1974 but it was overtaken by the tragic invasion of that summer, and members had to take shelter in a house in Kyrenia during the Turkish bombing. Since that dark time it has not been possible to resume investigations, the once splendid walls of the Neolithic settlement have become ruinous and we are uncertain about the condition and exact location of the many discoveries which were handed in to Mr Yiannis Kleanthous, custodian of Kyrenia Castle, who kindly stored them in the Crusader Tower.

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