Series·Swedish Cyprus Expedition

Idalion: pottery, terracottas and small finds

368 object photographs

Site: Idalion

In 1928 the Swedish Cyprus Expedition, with Erik Sjöqvist in charge, excavated the western acropolis of Idalion by the village of Dali and opened three tombs. SCE II found a fortified settlement of Late Cypriote III on the hill with a cult-house at its centre, replaced from Cypro-Geometric III by a walled sanctuary of the city goddess, which lasted through the Cypro-Archaic period.

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These 368 object photographs show the pottery, terracottas and small finds. In the Late Cypriote III cult-room SCE II found libation jugs, terracotta bulls and carbonized olive stones; terracotta animals appear among the prints, with 53 labelled "BA small finds". Later material includes Bichrome IV and V, Plain White IV–V, Black-on-Red, Grey Polished and Red Slip pottery, scarabs and seal impressions filed as "Glyptic", bone, metal lamps, blown glass and Cypro-Hellenistic wares. A few prints note that the object is probably in the Cyprus Museum.

Some prints come from the tombs. Tomb 3 was the only intact tomb the expedition found in the Late Cypriote cemetery inside the later city wall; SCE II dates its burials to Cypro-Geometric I and the beginning of Cypro-Geometric II. Tomb 1 was Hellenistic, and Tomb 2 held burials of the late Hellenistic period and of the 4th century AD. The metalwork and the fieldwork photographs are separate series.

Sources

  • Gjerstad, E., Lindros, J., Sjöqvist, E. and Westholm, A. 1935. The Swedish Cyprus Expedition: Finds and Results of the Excavations in Cyprus 1927–1931, vol. II. Stockholm, pp. 626–628 and 629–641.

In the field diaries

Photographs: Swedish Cyprus Expedition, Medelhavsmuseet, Stockholm (CC0)

All series of the Swedish Cyprus Expedition