Series·Swedish Cyprus Expedition

Lapithos, finds from the Kastros tombs 401–415

276 object photographs

Sites: Lapithos, Lapithos-Kastros, Idalion

Kastros is the Iron Age cemetery of Lapithos, cut into the rock slope below the plateau of Anastasia. The Swedish Cyprus Expedition excavated part of it from November to the middle of December 1927 and again from March 1928, after finishing at Vrysi tou Barba, with Erik Sjöqvist in charge. The site had not been dug before, though some tombs had been plundered in Byzantine times. SCE I numbered the tombs 401 to 429 and dated them from Cypro-Geometric I to Cypro-Geometric III.

These 276 object photographs cover the first half of the cemetery. Tomb 403 has 80 prints, Tomb 406 53 and Tomb 408 42. They show White Painted, Bichrome, Black-on-Red, Black Slip and Plain White vessels, a White Painted III vase in the shape of an animal, probably a goat, gold jewellery, iron tools and pins, and stone objects; about a third are drawings. Labels follow the find numbers (L.406.62 is object 62 of Tomb 406). A handful of prints of later Kastros tombs and one from Plakes Tomb 602 are filed here.

In the volume's summary the best-furnished burials belong to Cypro-Geometric I and II; by Cypro-Geometric III B the tombs are poor and earlier tombs are often reused. Sjöqvist's diary of the dig is D II:1b; tombs 416–429 are in the next series.

Sources

Gjerstad, E., Lindros, J., Sjöqvist, E. and Westholm, A. 1934. The Swedish Cyprus Expedition: Finds and Results of the Excavations in Cyprus 1927–1931, vol. I. Stockholm, pp. 172–173 and 264–265.