Letter from Megaw to Schaeffer about a Times article and the press release "Excavations at Enkomi, New work by the Department of Antiquities"Arthur Hubert Stanley Megaw

Press Communiqué

Excavations at Enkomi

New work by the Department of Antiquities.

events and thus will be thrown on the eventful history of Cyprus ... however, that much light will be thrown on the eventful history of Cyprus during the thirteenth and early twelfth century B.C.

The Department of Antiquities has just completed its fifth season of excavations on the site of the Bronze Age town at Enkomi, near Salamis. The excavations form part of a joint expedition, the other partner in which is the French Mission directed by Dr. Cl. F.A. Schaeffer, which plans to resume work in the autumn. The Department's latest excavations were directed by Mr. P. Dikaios, Curator of the Cyprus Museum, and lasted for about two months ending on 18th August.

The area examined this year adjoins the inner face of the North sector of the city wall laid bare by the Department in 1950-51. Here during the clearing of that wall important buildings had been noticed. It was the object of this year's work to examine and to establish their connection with the city wall as well as to obtain material to date the latter. In these respects the results obtained, which are summarised below, were conspicuously successful.

It has been found that the buildings adjoining the city wall were constructed earlier than the latter and that their original erection falls in the Late Cypriot (Bronze Age) II period, i.e. about 1400 B.C. or even earlier. These buildings include on the east a section protected by a defensive wall quite distinct from the later city wall and, to the west of it, an extensive complex of courts and chambers in which large numbers of sling bullets of stone, clay and lead as well as bronze weapons were found. Later, in the thirteenth century, both the section previously defended and the North-west sector of the complex were provided with additional fortifications. These included on the N.W. a wall of exceptional thickness reaching three and a half metres. Along the inner face of this wall at the western limit of the excavations a secret tunnel built of mudbricks was found, evidently used in times of stress. Soon after these additional fortifications the whole of the complex was re-arranged and new floors laid.

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

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