Aegean world. Philhellenic strands within scholarship and nationalism have to some extent encouraged a perception of more significant relationships westward, while equally strong, if not stronger, eastern associations have often been played down. These underlying factors also fit most comfortably with a general culture-historical approach to archaeological explanation, identifying specific events and peoples. Similarly, the archaeology of later periods in Cyprus, especially those of historical periods, tends to follow the established, more art-historical frameworks of research, like elsewhere in the Mediterranean.

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Bust of thiry-year-old bearded man from the classic period, 500 b.c., now in the Louvre

(Gamma)

While Cyprus was a British colony the director of the Department of Antiquities, like the directors of other government departments, was British even though highly qualified Cypriot archaeologists, such as Dikaios, carried out world-class research. After independence in 1960, control passed entirely into Cypriot hands, but that change did not lead to a reduction in the scale or intensity of foreign research work on the island. Instead, the first Cypriot director of the Department of Antiquities, vassos karageorghis, encouraged international expeditions. This tradition of hospitality continues, and each year up to twenty foreign teams from a wide array of countries excavate on the island. Karageorghis imposed one inflexible rule: he insisted on adequate publication, and that policy has recently been reinforced by the current director, Sophocles Hadjisavvas. Karageorghis himself led by example, producing comprehensive site reports on his own major excavations at sites such as salamis, Kition, and Maa. A major research component is an integral part of the duties of all staff members in the Department of Antiquities, along with curatorial and administrative responsibilities and the constant demands of salvage excavations.

In 1974, Turkish forces invaded and occupied the northern part of the island. An exchange of populations followed, with Greek-speaking, Christian Cypriots moving south and Turkish-speaking, Muslim Cypriots concentrating in the north. The island remains divided, but except for Turkey, no countries recognize the legitimacy of the Turkish administration in the north. The only internationally accepted legal authority is the government of the Republic of Cyprus, which is, in practice, the government of Greek Cyprus with effective control in the south.

The political situation has had a dramatic impact on archaeological research. Quite apart from the destruction and looting of sites and collections in inadequately policed areas, there has been no formal archaeological work in the Turkish-controlled north since 1974. The Department of Antiquities was always dominated by Greek-speaking Cypriots, who now can operate only in the south, and all foreign archaeologists, too, work only in the south. In a purely legalistic sense, excavators in the north would be digging illegally as it is not likely that they would have a permit from the accepted authorities, but most excavators also have closer personal associations with Greek Cypriots and Greek Cyprus. It is possible to argue that the original philhellenism of the earlier generations of archaeologists has carried through to modern