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there appeared remains of stone walls, belonging to the latest phases of the occupation of the town. The excavation has revealed, however, that there as elsewhere on the site, one encountered in large numbers pits dug by the clandestine diggers in search of tombs: in a single sounding, whose area did not reach 40 m2, seven pits were located which, in some cases, communicated through true underground galleries. It is not necessary to detail here the numerous damage caused to the archaeological remains by these blind excavations: destruction of walls whose stones are were<s> had/ then been thrown into the pit to fill it, perforation of floors, disturbance of layers and mixing of pottery sequences. These drawbacks are, however, to some extent offset by obtaining at good com- pte of valuable stratigraphic indications on the walls of each of these pits.
The area had previously been laid out in a quadrillage matérialisé par des piquets placés de 5 m en 5 m. The basic unit of excavation, instead of the traditional square of 4 m side, which usually proves quickly too restricted, was the rectangular trench of 9,50 m by 4 m which permits a wider exploration while at the same time maintaining, within the system of marking marking, the balks indispensable for circulation and stratigraphic study. The removal of earth was done by trolleys kindly lent to the mission by Mr Karageorghis.
(fig. 3)Pl. XIX, 3The investigations were concentrated in the trenches placed at the periphery of the gridded area/ as well as in the older trench which had the advantage that the clearance was undertaken there at a certain depth. In all the soundings a succession of floors of the last period of Enkomi was identified, generally in beaten earth, but including sometimes a whitish component in variable quantity and in one case an alternation of layers of ash and white plaster. Walls were related to most of these floors but without any plan appearing over a sufficient area to be clearly legible. On these floors various installa-
65 figures hard to readstruck struck outadded written in above” jug ditto, and what it repeatsword reading not certain