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

Handwritten: 350

As to the terminus ante quem, in lieu of the date 1400 proposed by dated with reservations, [handwritten: check mark 94] we prefer that of 1450. It has the advantage of agreeing with the absence of Mycenaean pottery among the remains of the earliest Late Cypriote age, and also with our stratigraphical observations at Ras Shamra.

Late Cypriote II. At Ras Shamra [handwritten: check mark 94] the remains of the beginning of Late Cypriote II, among which there are numerous vases of Late Cypriote II type, were shown to date back to the end of the reign of Thutmosis III (1504-1450). The stratigraphy of the same site permitted the end of the same period to be fixed at about 1365. It is now also established that the tragic event which is attached to that date—an earthquake which destroyed half of the city—was not a local incident. It was, in turn, a catastrophe which affected a very large area of Syria and Palestine. Our observations at Enkomi in 1946, mentioned above, show that Cyprus also was severly hit by the earthquake. Thus we obtain for the Late Cypriote II period a terminus ante quem that can be fixed about 1365. To make matters more simple we propose the rounding out of the date to 1350.

The oldest examples of Mycenaean amphorae and kraters decorated with chariot scenes, so common in Cyprus, have been put into Late Cypriote II A (1400-1450) of Sjöqvist's classification, corresponding to the second half of our Late Cypriote II (1450-1350). This is probably correct. However, Sjöqvist's views are subject to discussion. [handwritten: check mark 95] Apparently following a suggestion of Furumark, Sjöqvist considers the amphora no. 357 from Tomb 5 at Enkomi the oldest yet found on the island. The allocation to the lower level of the tomb, as the author states precisely, was determined by stylistic considerations only, the vase having been found in pieces "scattered all over the plundered tomb". These considerations are, according to the author: the slenderness of the neck, the rounded shoulders, and the filling-in with floral motives in the decoration.