Series·Swedish Cyprus Expedition

Milia

27 field photographs, 101 object photographs, 1 plan · 1928

Site: Milia

This series holds 129 photographs from the rock-cut tombs at Milia, 18 km north-west of Famagusta, which the Swedish Cyprus Expedition dug in February and March 1928. Earlier that year the police had reported clandestine digging near the village to the Cyprus Museum and caught some of the diggers. The expedition obtained a permit, and Alfred Westholm opened a number of tombs. Most had been looted; he judged four worth publishing. Each had a dromos and a burial chamber; one was empty, and the others held vases imported from Syria or Greece and showed signs of reuse. They were dated to Late Cypriot I–II. Westholm published them in 1939 in a journal article, outside the expedition's main volumes.

The 27 field photographs show tomb chambers filled with stones during excavation, and camels being loaded with crates of pottery. The 101 object photographs carry Mi. numbers (Mi.10.38 is Tomb 10, object 38): White Painted IV–V pottery, Bronze Age tools, weapons and small finds. One item is a plan.

Westholm's diary notes from the dig, dated 9 February to 3 March 1928, are in the notebook DII:2b. See the tomb page for Tomb 10 and the excavation page. Milia should not be confused with Melia at Ayios Iakovos.

Sources

Westholm, A. 1939. 'Some Late Cypriote tombs at Milia'. Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine 8, pp. 1–20.
Göransson, K. 2012. 'The Swedish Cyprus Expedition, the Cyprus collections in Stockholm and the Swedish excavations after the SCE'. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 42, p. 406.
Karageorghis, V. et al. 2003. The Cyprus Collections in the Medelhavsmuseet. Nicosia, pp. 24–26.

In the field diaries

DII:2bMilia, Soli and Kythrea · Alfred Westholm1928 · 95 pages

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

All series of the Swedish Cyprus Expedition