Bamboula, Area E–F

4

Excavation at Bamboula

There is nothing in this distribution to alter the picture already presented by 20:15 a of LC IIIA as the period of use of this area.

Sherd bag cards: 20:15b Top soil to 40cm; 20:15c To bedrock; 20:15d(N) To bedrock; 20:15d(S) Surface to first red earth; 20:15e Surface to bedrock.

21:25 The greater part of the area predicated as a continuation of House IV.2 proved to lie outside the house, being perhaps a courtyard with a basin, to which access was gained by a stairway from Room 3. The relatively shallow soil here yielded a high percentage of geometric and archaic sherds. In the pit connecting with the Stable below 21:24 there were only plain wares but these included a few PWM II.

Sherd bag cards: 21:25 Top soil to 50 cm.; do., From 50 cm. below surface to bedrock; do., pit to stables.

Underground chamber: Time did not permit of complete excavation. Sufficient was done to establish the probability that the chamber was originally a tomb-as might be expected from its location in the cemetery-which had been deliberately filled in (after collapsing?) by stones no later than the LC II period. It seems unlikely that the heavy stone lining of the walls belonged to the original tomb-s for this would have too greatly reduced the burial space. At some time posterior to its use as a tomb and prior to its being filled in, the chamber must have had some use at present unknown.

Street of Tombs

The original hope of throwing light on the bronze or copper industry of Bamboula was thoroughly disappointed. Negatively, it was established that the area of the hearths did not extend south beyond the line of tr 20 as dug by Daniel. This means that any manufacturing which went on was confined to a very limited area and must have been on a quite limited scale. At the same time it was established that the built-up area did not extend southward-at least in the vicinity of Tr 20-from the row of dwellings along the lower cliff of Area E. South of House IV there appears to be a large'dead'area with LC IIIA fill or accumulation. South of House V there is bedrock near the surface with a few cuttings for pots but no trace of walls or prepared floors. Since most of the bedrock is criss-crossed by plough marks, it is clear that any walls would have been thoroughly destroyed. The period of use of this area was LC IIIA.

Of prime interest are two chamber tombs in 20:15b which were destroyed in ancient times. The larger was hollowed out and re-used:a stone wall approximately 80cm in height with mud bricks above (found neatly collapsed) was built across an arc of the tomb just below the dromos. The latest use of the wall appears to have been LC IA which pushes the date of the tomb itself back early indeed for Bamboula. The other tomb, as well as three pits in 20:15c which are likely to have been tombs, was filled in during LC IIIA. There is some reason to think that this tomb, like its neighbour, is LC IA or earlier (cf.JFD ix,132). The question is thus raised whether this area was a cemetery for an early settlement on or near Bamboula. The destruction, re-use and filling in of tombs in this manner is not, to my knowledge, paralleled in this region. The underground chamber in the Street of Tombs must be considered a part of this same problem.