The Athienou Archaeological Project (AAP) is a multidisciplinary project focusing on the site of Athienou-Malloura and the surrounding valley in south-central Cyprus.

AAP is sponsored by Davison Collete and directed by Michael K. Toumazou, assisted by P. Nick Kardulias (College of Wooster) and Derek B. Counts (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee).

The site was used for nearly 2500 years and encompasses the Geometric, Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Frankish, Venetian, and Ottoman periods in the island’s history. The site’s long occupation period, coupled with the diversity of archaeological remains encountered — domestic, religious, and funerary — make it an ideal training ground in archaeological methodology and provide ample evidence for introducing students to the fascinating history and material culture of Aphrodite’s Isle, strategically nestled in the midst of three continents. In the past 25+ years, over 400 individuals — undergraduate and graduate students as well as specialists or professional archaeologists — representing over 100 North American and European Institutions have participated in the project as trainees or staff members.

Since its inception in 1990, AAP has undertaken a field survey of the valley (ca. 20 km2), a topographical survey of Malloura, and geophysical prospection of portions of the site. Moreover, the Geometric-Roman rural sanctuary, initially investigated in 1862 by a French Mission, was located and is being stratigraphically excavated. Eight chamber tombs (Archaic-Roman), an aquifer, and two water cisterns have also been excavated. Portions of the Roman-Ottoman settlement are under investigation and some thirty burials dating to the Venetian rule (15th-16th centuries) have been excavated. Thus, our investigations have thrown considerable light on the long-term history and use of this small rural inland site to be compared with larger, urban, usually coastal, centers which have been more intensely investigated.