Press Communiqué, Excavations at Enkomi, New work by the Department of AntiquitiesPorphyrios Dikaios

At about the end of the thirteenth century a major catastrophe occurred destroying all the buildings of this area, the walls of which were buried under collapsed debris from the superstructure. Following this disaster the inhabitants of the town attempted a hurried reconstruction of some parts of the buildings, but soon after a second even more terrible disaster occurred, bringing complete ruin accompanied by a severe conflagration.

Early in the twelfth century B.C. there followed a strengthening of the fortification wall with an additional external thickness of large blocks, followed by the provision of a large tower at an angle. But the buildings adjoining the wall were not rebuilt.

The dramatic events of which evidence was excavated find their place in the history of the East Mediterranean, which during the second half of the thirteenth century was shaken by troubles of profound consequence echoed in the Egyptian records. The continuous efforts to strengthen the fortifications of Enkomi during successive stages, which were observed this year, are evidence of the growing anxiety and necessity to protect the town against imminent incursions. It is still premature to assign the various occurrences evidenced by the excavations, their precise places in the sequence of historical events and thus explain their exact causes. It is hoped, however, that much light will be thrown on the eventful history of Cyprus during the thirteenth and early twelfth century B.C.

Apart from large quantities of pottery, which include fine specimens of Cypriot and Mycenaean wares of the end of the thirteenth century, this season's work at Enkomi was amply rewarded by the discovery, for the first time in Cyprus, of an inscribed tablet of baked clay. It is of a type common in countries of the Middle East but the script used consists only of linear signs. The result of the study of the tablet, which has not yet been completed, will be eagerly awaited. Meanwhile this discovery may mean that somewhere in the town there exist archives of these baked clay tablets, such as those discovered in many ancient sites in the Middle East as well as at Mycenae and Pylos in Greece.

Figure: pencil sketch over the left-centre of the text, a looping line with a leaf-like shape and a line running across the lower paragraph