Join The Explorers Club and hear about the amazing findings from 35 years of archaeological research on Yeronisos off of Western Cyprus. This presentation is also featured in an article in the Spring 2026 edition of The Explorers Journal.
Yeronisos (“Sacred Island”) rises dramatically off the shores of Cape Drepanum in western Cyprus. Naturally protected by steep cliffs, it has long been a nesting site for birds and a haven for diverse plant species. It has also been a garrison-look out and signaling station for Ptolemaic soldiers in the first century BCE and a retreat for monks during the reign of Justinian. Across 35 years, Joan Breton Connelly, PhD, FN’90 and her NYU Yeronisos Island Expedition team have undertaken a total island study integrating ecological and archaeological fieldwork towards the goal of preserving natural and cultural resources. During the reign of Cleopatra VII an ambitious building program saw the construction of a cistern, rooms for sleeping and dining, and what may be a fire beacon tower for nocturnal navigation and communication. The NYU team has unearthed astonishing finds: Ptolemaic ostraca, a lunar calendar carved in stone, pottery from Egypt, the Levant, Aegean, and Rome, stamp seal amulets showing Egyptian and Cypriot motifs, and glass bowls from Syro-Palestine. Connelly will take us on a journey to Yeronisos and its maritime “small world,” including the coastline opposite with Maniki Harbor, now documented in aerial and underwater surveys, as well as the team’s recent discovery of an extraordinary tomb in the nearby Meletis Forest Necropolis.
Connelly and her team will also be returning Explorers Club Flag Nº 213 to headquarters.
This in-person event at the Explorers Club Headquarters will include an audience Q&A.
RESERVATIONS
This will be an in-person lecture at Explorers Club Headquarters.
In-person tickets are $20 for Members, and $35 for the General Public.
Check-in will begin at 6:00 pm, with a beer and wine reception from 6:00 – 7:00 pm
Joan Breton Connelly
Joan Breton Connelly, Professor of Classics at New York University, is a field archaeologist who has excavated in Greece, Kuwait, and Cyprus where she has directed the NYU Yeronisos Island Expedition for 35 years. A MacArthur Fellow, Connelly has authored The Parthenon Enigma: A New Understanding of the West’s Most Iconic Building and the People Who Made It; Portrait of a Priestess: Women and Ritual in Ancient Greece; and Votive Sculpture of Hellenistic Cyprus. For her contribution to the exploration and preservation of the ecological and archaeological heritage of western Cyprus, Connelly has received Honorary Citizenship from the Municipality of Pegeia and the City of Paphos.
Prof. Connelly served on the Cultural Property Advisory Committee, U.S. Department of State, for eleven years. For decades at NYU, she has taught a sought-after seminar on Cultural Heritage, Law, and Ethics. The Archaeological Institute of America has honored her with its Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award and its James R. Wiseman Book Award. Connelly has held visiting fellowships at All Souls College, New College, Corpus Christie College, and Magdalen College, Oxford, and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. She has been a member of the Royal Geographical Society, the Society of Antiquaries of London, and the Society of Women Geographers and has served as Trustee of Bryn Mawr College, the Society for the Preservation of the Greek Heritage, and the Association of Members of the Institute for Advanced Study. She is a graduate Princeton University and earned her PhD at Bryn Mawr College.
