In Janury 1989, Joan Breton Connelly and Doris Miller of New York University visited Agios Georgios-tis-Peyias, followed by a trip atop Yeronisos in the summer of 1989 by Joan Connelly, Stuart and Laina Swiny, and Dimitris Michaelides in the boat of Mr. Andreas Stavrou of Peyia.

On June 15 1990, Order 223/1989 declared Yeronisos to be an ancient monument, adding it to the First Schedule of the Antiquities Law, as published in the Gazette.

Just think, in years to come Archaeologists will be picking through Archaeological Dig Sites left by current-day Archaeologists. And if you think that sounds far-fetched, you will find evidence of Byzantine Archaeologists all over the place, if you pay attention to the signs you see on museum visits.

Also in June, 1990, New York University was awarded a license to explore and excavate Yeronisos Island and its surrounding waters under the direction of Prof. Joan Breton Connelly. To date, one archaeological survey season (1990), two ecological survey seasons (1990, 1992), eleven excavation seasons (1992-1994, 1996-1997, 2004-2006, 2009-11) and seven study seasons (1995, 2000-2003, 2007-2008) have been completed.

It should be noted that the Yeronisos website has not been updated since 2012. The digs continue to this day, as you can be seen by the presence of this green protective covering.

In June of 1990, President John Brademas of New York University and his wife, Dr. Mary Ellen Brademas, visited Yeronisos and Agios Georgios-tis-Peyias by Cypriot Police Helicopter, inaugurating the opening of the University’s excavations at the site.

During the 1990 season, Peter P. Blanchard I11 of the Nature Conservancy of Mt. Desert Island, Maine and the Trust for Public Land, New York City undertook surveys of the Yeronisos flora and avian fauna. He collected, recorded and photographed plant samples and prepared an ecological map of Yeronisos. Geographical and general contour maps were obtained from the Geological Survey Department and the Department of Land Surveys which prepared a new aerial contour map of Yeronisos at 1:250, courtesy of Mr. Loucas Telemachou.

In 1992, the Cyprus Land Survey Office of Pafos renewed the benchmark on Yeronisos, setting a brass plate in a concrete column at the highest point on the island. This marks the precise elevation of 21.65m above sea level. The benchmark was determined off of a Level 6 Geodetic Survey point set on the mainland acropolis at Agios Georgios in 1923.

During the 1992 season, architect Andrew Wixom, aided by G.H.R. Wright, undertook a survey of the island with an electronic distance meter and prepared a new state plan of structures exposed prior to the start of the New York University Excavations. Wixom and Wright set three datum points (iron reinforcement rods in cement cased in PCV tubing) along a true North-South, East-West grid of 5 X 5 meter squares. This grid stretches over the entire site and extends across the channel to the mainland, allowing future underwater survey teams to utilize the same grid as the land operation.