Letter from Megaw to Schaeffer on Dikaios's work and disagreements over dating, with a receipt for excavation equipmentArthur Hubert Stanley Megaw

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Tel. No.: Our Ref.: Your Ref.:

You refer once more to your suggestion that Dikaios should undertake further research into his floors V and the underlying remains down to the rock, implying that this suggestion has not been adopted. You made this suggestion first in 1950 when discussing Dikaios' report on his 1948-49 campaigns. His two subsequent seasons in 1950 and 1951 were very largely devoted to just that work which you suggested, together with a slight extension westwards of his sanctuary excavation, where also excavations into and below floors corresponding to floor V was a main objective. He has so far found nothing to shake his belief that those floors were made by people using Myc. IIIC pottery, and indeed some of this pottery has been found below those floors.

Dikaios this week completed his fifth campaign devoted entirely to the area adjoining the north town wall. He is only now starting to study the tablet, so there is at present nothing further to report.

I think there has been some misunderstanding about Masson. In a P.S. to your letter of 10th May 1952 you suggested that we might invite him to publish in our volume the inscriptions found by Dikaios. We have been considering this suggestion but are at present inclined to follow what has been done with the Pyla inscriptions, that is a straight-forward presentation of the material, which will then be available for all who are concerned with the interpretation of the Bronze Age scripts. In correspondence with Masson who is contemplating some further study of the Cypro-Minoan script we have explained that the material from our Enkomi excavations would only be available for inclusion after publication by us.

Dikaios has received his copy of Enkomi-Alasia I and is acknowledging it direct. As to possible recipients of complimentary copies, apart from the Governor, who has an official library at Government House, including some archaeological books (including SGW), I have no suggestions to make. There are two libraries besides our own used by serious students, but both are well endowed and can afford to buy copies.

Yours sincerely,

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