Schaeffer's report on the workers' demands at the excavation siteClaude Frédéric-Armand Schaeffer

from the archaeological point of view, the result of the first excavations is most satisfactory. We immediately found the site of the town Mycenaean, so long sought by successive missions and of which we had recovered the first indications in 1934.

As we had admitted, at Enkomi it is in fact not a necropolis, but of a town where the tombs were installed in the basement of houses, as was the custom in the 2nd millennium in many regions of the Near East. As I said in a post-[illegible] of [illegible] ... the plans of the houses are very well preserved. Some with [illegible] ... pisé floors. Under [illegible] ... the family burial chamber cut into the limestone rock [illegible] ... were looted after the town had been deserted, [illegible] ... excavated by the missions previously working at Enkomi, including ourselves, but at least one of them seems to have been intact [illegible] ... contain [illegible] ... we found well [illegible] the end of the work.

The population of the valley villages of the region (...) This is quite homogeneous for Late Bronze and corresponds to the pottery removed from the houses. Here we encounter a number of Middle Bronze fragments, which indicates that there is an earlier level beneath the Late Bronze town that we are in the process of clearing. In addition we have found [illegible] a building of the town ... at the end of the town, although ... has not yet been explored. One of the houses uncovered is remarkable both for the quality of its ashlar walls and for its dimensions, and which, with an enormous block of stone ... the appearance of a plinth, is probably a public building. A few scarabs and cylinders have been found, as well as traces of bronze workshops.

such as the staff, dismissals etc.

As we cannot use vehicles ... for the transport of earth, the method of ... the excavations ... like wheelbarrows ... It is ... we use trolleys ... [illegible] ... some ... one can ... It is still very high, around 40 degrees in the shade. We work from 7 h to 12 and from 15 h to 5 h, the midday hours ... for ... but we can no longer [illegible] for this campaign.

Work was resumed the next day, but given the appreciable increase in wages, I had to reduce the number of workmen from 150 to 120 men.

Two days were enough to show that the promises will not be kept; the persuasion of the labour force is systematic and constant; I have asked, in agreement with the local authorities, who recognise the situation, that the government give me some fifty German prisoners or Turkish labour. The question is under study, but there is fear of a hostile action from the population, already unfavourable because of the presence of the camps. A general shortage and a rise in prices, in reality just would cause a general shortage and a rise in prices. In reality, the occupations were exploited by the war armies, during which it was possible to earn easily with a minimum of activity. The pockets full, moreover, the working population is organising and thinks it can impose its conditions. Frankly, they say this is the "red" region of the island.