Enkomi C.F.F Schaeffer Plates IV-VIIClaude Frédéric-Armand Schaeffer

Handwritten: 4074 ... (bleed-through, partly illegible)

ENKOMI [illegible] C. F. A. SCHAEFFER C-11-364 PLATES IV-VII

Handwritten: 32.

Going north from Famagusta by the coastal road to Bogaz and the Karpass peninsula, one soon crosses the delta formed by the alluvial deposits of the Pedieos, which reaches the sea at the site of Greek Salamis. On the other side of the bridge a foot-path goes off to the left in a westerly direction, at the end of which one sees the village of Enkomi, situated on an outcropping of rock which rises slightly above the level of the plain.

A few hundred steps beyond the village one reaches the edge of a rocky declivity which delimites the western limit of the plateau of Enkomi. From this point there is a view stretching towards the interior of the island. In summer, after the harvest of the wheat, which is the chief crop under cultivation, this view becomes somewhat desolate and sad. It would be described as a dried-up land, almost desert-like, without trees or shade and burned by pitiless sun. But in autumn and again in spring a few rain allle suffice to transform the landscape into a verdant plain, where vast fields of wheat and barley mature precociously.

Archaeologists, who must carry out their excavations and research during the dry season, usually think of Enkomi as a place devoid of all charm and plagued by insufferable heat. And in fact, they are obliged to work in the abandoned fields which spread themselves out at the foot of the cliff where there is never a breath of sea breeze (pl. IV, A).

Here is the site famed for half a century for the abundance of its archaeological remains and, in particular, the richness of the gold jewelry recovered from the Bronze Age tombs. For many years peasants and treasure hunters had prospected in the fields of Enkomi. Then, forty years ago, an English mission under the direction of A. S. Murray undertook systematic excavations here.[handwritten: IV]