Pafos Live 29 May 2024
New evidence for the urban planning of the city of Nea Pafos and the size of its residential islet was brought by the excavations of the archaeological mission of the Universities of Warsaw and Krakow in Kato Pafos. The Department of Antiquities of the Deputy Ministry of Culture announced the completion of the works for this year.
The joint archaeological mission in Nea Pafos of the Universities of Warsaw and Jagiellonian Krakow, in collaboration with the Technical University of Warsaw, completed the fourth research period which included excavation and study of material. The University of Hamburg, the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts and the Technical University of Wrocław are also collaborating on the project.
During this period, in addition to conducting excavations, conservation works were carried out at the site, geophysical surveys, processing of ceramic and glass material that had been discovered in previous excavation periods, as well as documentation of architectural members that had also been discovered earlier.
It is reminded that the city of Nea Pafos was designed on the basis of the Hippodamian urban planning system and the aim of the current research program is to verify the street plan and the urban organization of the city, as well as the three-dimensional mapping of its appearance at various times of its evolution.
It is noted that the excavation focused – as had happened in the previous year – on the search for remains of the city's road system, in order to confirm the hypothetical size of the residential islet in Nea Pafos. Indeed, according to the findings of the investigation, the width of the residential islet was set at 105 meters.
It is added that the second part of the investigation included the area around the Market and the interior of the square. In the test section, the hypothetical intersection of the vertical path P with the horizontal road 4 was confirmed. Remains of P Street were also found by the Australian archaeological mission to the south of the theatre and Nymphaeum, on the east side of the city.
Therefore, as mentioned, "it can be said that R Street was of key importance for the city, since it connected the hill of Fanari, the Market and the theater, crossing the city center to the eastern gate of the walls".
It is also indicated that the test trench confirmed the existence of M Street and revealed the outer boundary of the eastern arcade of the Agora. Therefore, it was found that the eastern portico, like the southern portico, was triple during the last phase of the Early Roman period.
