Letter from Megaw to Schaeffer on Enkomi I and Dikaios's seasonArthur Hubert Stanley Megaw

Handwritten top right: 30.VII.52

[printed: GOVERNMENT OF CYPRUS] [figure: Government of Cyprus coat of arms; labels: none]

Printed: DEPARTMENT OF ANTIQUITIES, NICOSIA.

Tel. No. :

Our Ref. : 36/36/3

Your Ref. :

30th July, 1952

Dear Dr. Schaeffer,

Since I wrote last on 23rd June, I have received the complimentary copy of Enkomi-Alasia I, which you were good enough to send me and for which I thank you. It is certainly a fine production, full of important material and opinions, and the colour plates are particularly successful.

I have also received your letter of June 26th. I appreciate what you there emphasize, namely that a fundamental difference separates your and Dikaios' conclusions foundation of your respective ashlar buildings. Your volume, which I am now reading, makes this clear and emphasizes other opinions of yours, such as those arising from the questioning of the traditional date of the Trojan war, to which Dikaios might not wish to subscribe. In the light of this, your decision that Dikaios' report should not appear in the same volume as yours is understandable. The point of my earlier remarks was not that we expected in your volume any reference to the content of Dikaios' report, but only some reference to its existence, particularly since it was written at your suggestion and completed under great pressure from you.

Dikaios' current campaign in the area against the North wall has revealed that it was little occupied after the construction of the city wall but at my last visit he had reached remains of more substantial buildings which had been abandoned when the wall was built. Apart from sherds, finds are disappointingly few, but they include a fragmentary and much defaced clay tablet inscribed on both sides in a script including known signs of the Cypro-Mycenean script. Its condition and its location in a fill (containing twelfth century pottery), not on a floor, do not suggest that more are likely to be found in the same area.

I note that Pironin and Courtois are due at Limassol on September 13th and that you and Pironin will be arriving about the same time from Beirut.

As soon as I know the probable date for the completion of Plenderleith's work on the replicas of the bowl, I will advise the British Embassy about its impending arrival and ask them to get in touch with the Louvre authorities whom you name.

Dikaios and I at once realised that the appearance of the bronze statue in your second ILN article and its caption were due to the Editors, not to you. These articles have been very good publicity for Enkomi and for Cyprus. Thank you for the copies you sent me.

The Kouklia Expedition has found a rich tomb in its current campaign, with an ivory mirror handle like that found in the B.M. 1895 excavations at Enkomi and

Dr.C.F.A.Schaeffer, M.A.,D.Litt., Le Castel Blanc, 14, Rue Turgot, St.Germain-en-Laye,

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