Frederick Whitling CAARI Lecture

“Swedish Spades in Terra Incognita" Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf’s 1930 Cyprus Sojourn and the Division of Finds of the Swedish Cyprus Expedition.
The Swedish archaeologist Einar Gjerstad set foot on Cyprus for the first time one hundred years ago, in 1923, sowing the seeds for the Swedish Cyprus Expedition (1927-1931). The expedition set out to establish a first thorough top-to-bottom chronology in Cypriot archaeology. It was enabled by the Cyprus Committee, created in Sweden in 1927. Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden was its Chairman. He visited Cyprus in 1930 in connection with the division of the finds of the expedition, and also briefly took part in its excavations (pictured above). His presence during the division of the finds undeniably had an impact on the negotiations which resulted in the allocation of more than half of the individual finds to Sweden. These formed the so-called “Cyprus collections” (Cypernsamlingarna), the largest worldwide collection of Cypriot antiquities outside of the island, that would later constitute the foundation and backbone of Medelhavsmuseet in Stockholm. This talk discusses a forthcoming book project based on primary research, placing the Swedish Cyprus Expedition in a sociopolitical context, and will focus on hitherto unpublished material on the expedition and the royal sojourn in 1930.