Bamboula, Tombs (extracted from McFadden's notebooks)

NB VII, pp. 13 ff.

13 March 1939Start investigating a tomb discovered by chavara-cutters in Lot no. ···, at the junction of the two wagon roads from Episkopi. Six pots were removed by the discoverers. They are pots nos. 1-6.

Photo Bam '39, 1 of tomb before clearing.

15 MarchWe have opened the tomb from above, as it had collapsed in antiquity. We dig through dark earth with large blocks of chavara fallen from the roof. The chavara blocks go right to the skeletal remains and pots. The dromos was at the S-E and had been destroyed by chavara cutters.

There are six skeletons, four side by side on the S-E side, one on the N-E, and one on the N-W. The N-E skeleton is the earliest. It goes under the N-W skeleton and under stones placed in a depression in the center, apparently belonging to the N-W skeleton. The westernmost of the S-E skeletons is interrupted by the central depression, thus probably earlier than the depression. (See below)

At the left (N-W) there is a Black on Red jug in the wall of the tomb, 0.60 above the floor. It is in an adjacent tomb, cut through when tomb 4 was cut. It must have collapsed already at that time. The pots removed by the plunderers (nos. 1-6) were found in the S-W, and belonged with the S-E skeletons.

Photo Bam '39, 2 of N-W skeleton. Bam '39, 3-6 of tomb with objects in situ.

20 MarchDigging in the pit in the center of the tomb we find the missing bones of skeleton I. This S-E group is thus subsequent to the building of the pit. The pit is partly filled with chavara, going up onto the pots. The bones of skeleton I lay over this. There were a few fragments of bone under it. Since skeleton I lay over the chavara, itself subsequent to the pots in the pit, skeleton I is later than these.

Photo Bam '39, 7 of tomb completely cleared

Contents

(In the absence of a notebook list, the objects were catalogued from labels only)

Handwritten marginalia, faint: Note on rough sketch of tomb: #2 had mouth closed with stone. Pit (chavara) 0.20 below floor to chavara 0.35 to bottom.