Miscellaneous

5

On Monday, 18th, work was resumed on site D, much of the adjoining land having been secured in the interim, but although a considerable extent was explored, little of importance was found. The tombs contained little beyond pottery of Bronze Age character, from the earliest incised varieties downwards. The only exception was tomb 102, which contained some more fragments of a remarkable Mycenean vase already found in tomb 53, and a steatite scarabeoid with a design of exceptional merit. The complete plundering of this site in early times thus received additional confirmation.

This site was not exhausted till April 8th, but the majority of the workmen were transferred ten days previously back to site E, where a continuation of the exploration of the hillside above the Paphos road was undertaken in a westerly direction. The tombs were, however, very few in number, all of the Roman period, and by April 8th gave out altogether. They yielded a quantity of glass and Roman lamps, with one or two painted vases of the Hellenistic period, one of which, apparently an importation from Italy, is of considerable interest. Several of these Roman tombs were of exceptional size, and very elaborate in character.

Before April 11th another trial was made of site C, particularly the spot where the Greek terracotta head had been found near the surface (see above, p.43), and it was soon proved that there was no cemetery here, but remains of a temple or shrine. Not only did foundations of buildings come to light, but also a hoard of favissa great favissa of votive terracotta objects and coins crowded together in great numbers, and the discovery of a dedicatory inscription to Demeter and Core seems to imply that the building was a shrine of those deities. There did not remain sufficient time to discover the plan and character of the building, but the favissa was apparently exhausted.

During the course of the excavations various tentative explorations were made at different points in the neighbourhood of Curium and the village of Episkopi, but none of them produced any results other than negative. It may, however, be worth noting that an attempt was made to ascertain the nature of a subterranean building partially excavated by Messrs. Christian and Wilkinson in 1883, and apparently, also, by Gen. Cesnola. This building lies in low ground immediately below the bridle-road to Paphos, where it leaves the village of Episkopi. A flight of some twenty steps leads to an archway of massive stone blocks, beyond which a passage turning sharply to the right leads for some distance, and then turns to the right again. Owing to the depth of this passage below the surface and the impossibility of tunnelling for any distance, it seemed very unlikely that the great expense necessary for a complete investigation of these workings would be rewarded, and consequently the exploration was for a third time abandoned.