A total of 266 Cypriot antiquities were delivered on Tuesday in Claremont (Los Angeles, USA) by the Vice President for Academic Affairs of Harvey Mudd College, Professor Tom Donnelly, to Cyprus’ Deputy Minister of Culture, Dr Vasiliki Kassianidou.

According to a statement by the Department of Antiquities of the Deputy Ministry of Culture, this is a collection of antiquities that was exported by Harvey Mudd, co-founder and owner of the Cyprus Mines Corporation, the company that, among other things, exploited the Skouriotissa mine until 1976.

It said that the antiquities were exported from the island with permission from the then newly-established Department of Antiquities of the British colonial government in the 1930s and were transferred to Los Angeles. After Harvey Mudd’s death, his family founded Harvey Mudd College and when his wife also passed away, the collection was donated by his family to the university. It is noted that the collection includes clay vessels and lamps, glass objects, a compass, female clay figurines and a female limestone head, as well as a significant number of bronze tools and mirrors. The objects date from the Early Bronze Age to the Roman Period.

“Among the objects in the collection, a bronze talent in the shape of an oxhide ingot from the Late Bronze Age (1600-1050 BC) stands out”, the Deputy Ministry said.

The Deputy Ministry also notes that it was Dr Kassianidou, who, as part of her research as an academic on ancient mines, contacted Harvey Mudd College in 2017, requesting to study the collection in question. The President of the University informed Harvey Mudd’s granddaughter, Victoria Mudd, who expressed the wish that the antiquities be given to the Cypriot authorities and returned to Cyprus.

The Department of Antiquities is now working on the antiquities’ repatriation, “almost 100 years after their export from Cyprus”.