Report on the excavations at Enkomi, 1955–1958Claude Frédéric-Armand Schaeffer

Continued from scan 26

… drums, one of which bears a letter that appears Greek, seems to indicate that they were deliberately thrown there. Although their dimensions (90 cm. diam.) curiously match those of the square xxxxxxxxxx base, it is unlikely that they belonged to this monument, and one may suppose that they were shaped in the Classical period. The state of the monument that we are studying also suggests that it served as a quarry after its abandonment; perhaps work began on cutting these on site with the intention of transporting them to Salamis, which succeeded Enkomi in the Classical period; for some reason, the work was interrupted, which would explain the irregular and unfinished appearance of the column drums, and the blocks were tipped into the well. One may note the presence of a fragment of tile (Pt. 85), at 0.90 m., on the spot where there should be the wall running along the E.-W. street. The cutting of the walls north of the vestibule may have given rise to these lenses of limestone that were precisely noted in this area.

Elsewhere, the surface layer contains mainly remains of Iron I: a calcite bowl at 0,40 (Pt. 5), fragments of jars; a ribbed blue faience bead (Pt. 83), found at 0,40m, between the South wall and the E.-W. road, is older but in a disturbed layer.

Floor I, with the layer of soft brown and ashy earth that overlies it, represents the last occupation of the building. In fact, the present top of the best-preserved walls lies at a depth of 0,50 and coincides with the appearance of this layer. The pottery met down to the floor at 0,70 and inside the floor of lime down to 0,75, belongs to Iron I, with "wavy line" sherds ("Myc. III C 2"), around 1100 B.C. It corresponds to Floor I in the West hall.

Floor II is covered by a habitation layer of reddish loose earth with, near a depth of 1 m., abundant ashes and numerous horizontal sherds. In this layer, was found, towards the N.-W. corner of the hall, a large crushed pithos, with a broad flattened rim and decorated with incisions in wolf's teeth framed by two lines, and horizontal handles attached obliquely (Pt. 8); inside this jar there was