July–December 1947

Episkopi Cyprus

Aug. 22, 1947Dear Mr. Hill,

Your letter was late, but it could hardly have come at a more dramatic moment, and this because of its tardiness. You see, we had worked very hard all the week before - the whole staff plus a man from the Museum - and just finished when Dikaios arrived Monday morning. Dikaios in turn had just put the Museum's seal on the last case of Kaloriziki pottery, and we had all retired to our porch for tea when your letter was brought to us. Needless to say, the first sentence of your second paragraph was read with interest by all.

We had expected, from Pete's letter, that if we were to hear from you at all regarding the packing it would be very soon, probably before you even got ours. But we heard nothing from you, and then got a letter from George saying that everything except [illegible] the tripod from Tomb 39 had been satisfactorily settled, and that we should proceed with packing at once. We saw Dikaios shortly thereafter and he also felt that we should go ahead and pack. Since we knew that George was determined to have the space and would no doubt pack the tombs himself if he arrived to find them still out, we decided to go ahead; only the tripod and the undivided tombs remain out. We are, of course, sorry [handwritten: ...] now that we know this was not what you wanted done, but it does not seem to us that it can make any great difference. Pete said that there was no question about the tombs the Museum had taken, except for the tripod from Tomb 39, while I understand from Dikaios that he is not interested in any of the other tombs, no matter what is done with the tripod. Pete's other problem w whether or not his Museum wants all the tombs assigned to it - would hardly affect the casing, since I am sure that George would not put up with unwanted tombs on his wanted shelf-space.

I spoke to Dikaios before packing about the fact that we could not find a few of the objects; he said he would have been very surprised had this not been the case, since the Museum is apparently always in the same predicament. The final amphora missing from George's tombs appeared (misnumbered) during the packing; you will note the present status from my letter to Dikaios, a copy of which I enclose. We are also enclosing [handwritten: 4] keys to the packing; if you want the complete lists in Athens I will send them surface-mail.

George told me before he left to ship the Cyprus Museum's cases to them as soon as they were packed, but fortunately (from his point of view anyway) the man from the Museum took them with him. The remaining cases are stored in the small apotheke behind the house, and the much-discussed tripod is still on its shelf.

Now for the other points in your letter. The Scout Captain's family returned to England, so that his house passed back to the Government and was not available. We were most grateful to Peter for letting us stay there, and fortunately Grace neither wrote on the walls nor broke any of their antiques as we had feared (the sumptuous notepaper that you spotted was our only theft - our paper was in the Museum the day we wrote). As to library-work, of which we must do a great deal before these terracottas can be published, we really do not know the solution. The library here (i.e. Nicosia) is wholly inadequate. If the work is to be done … continues