The village of Amargeti is located ca. 16 km northeast of Pafos and about 14 kilometers north of Palaipafos-Kouklia (bee-line), on the southern slopes of Troodos Mountains, situated on a ridge between the river Ezousa on the west and the river Xeropotamos on the east, 391 m above sea level. In the 19th century, many limestone statuettes were discovered in the fields north of the village. Therefore, the site was called Petros Anthropos (“Man of Stone”). In 1888, British archaeologists under the direction of D. J. Hogarth discovered votives and inscriptions dedicated to Opaon Melanthios as well as walls partly built with architectural fragments and sculptures.
Hogarth (et al.1888, 171) described the place: “Below the village on the north is a deep valley in which two torrents meet and run down to the Ezuza, and it was on the spit of land near the fork of these streams that the vineyard lay in which so many things had been found, and the right of excavation in which we had secured on April 8th. Bronze figurines had also been unearthed from time to time in a yard pertaining to the house of one Stilianos Paphios in the village, and this we had also secured together with some land adjoining.” Hogarth did not mark his excavation on a map.
The site is confined, in the north, by a dirt road and by a stream in a ravine, in the south by a saisonal stream. The fields are sloping to the southwest, some parcels are terraced. Today, the parcels of Petros Anthropos are cultivated with grain, vine, almonds and olives.
Aim of research
The survey aims to locate the place excavated by Hogarth in 1888. Furthermore, the researches intend to gather all archaeological information in the supposed area in order to document and analyse activities which took place in this site. This comprises settlements, necropoleis and sanctuary sites of all periods.
The survey project aims at the systematic and interdisciplinary investigation of the archaeological landscape and remains of Amargeti as well as the preserving of the cultural heritage for the people of Amargeti. The archaeological aims shall be achieved by documenting surface finds, detecting and analysing subsurface structures by geophysical methods and remote sensing.