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Continued from p. 340
… decoration poor in motives, must be placed at the extreme end of Late Cypriote III, therefore between 1250 and 1200, a dating that is in accord with that of the excavators. In fact, we have not yet found at Ras Shamra any specimens of Mycenaean vases having so late an aspect, nor any of these mortars in steatite, nor the little plaques in gold leaf placed on the forehead, mouth or eyes of the dead. It would be perfectly conceivable that, thanks to its insular position, Enkomi had survived for several years the events which caused the destruction of Ugarit, before it too became obscure.
The exceptional richness of the tomb furniture encountered in the upper level of Tomb 18, the unique armament, the shape of the tomb itself and the burial customs, which differ from those normally observed in the Cypriote tombs of the Late Bronze Age, permit us to conclude that we are concerned with the remains of a chief surrounded by members of his family, all of foreign origin. However, no certainty can at present be established for any of these hypotheses. What is likely, however, is that the latest burials in Tombs 18 and 6 at Enkomi are slightly posterior to the latest ones yet found at Ras Shamra that contain Mycenaean pottery of Late Ugarit III. The would thus represent the transition to the beginning of the Iron Age.
The Beginning of the Iron Age. For the chronology of the early Iron Age in Cyprus, we lose the guidance of the chronology and stratigraphy of the neighboring site of Ras Shamra. This period is not represented there because of the destruction of Ugarit in the course of the thirteenth century, at the time of the great upheaval known as the movement of the Peoples of the North and of the Sea.
I am encouraged to attempt to clarify the chronology of the initial phase of Iron in Cyprus by my good fortune, during my excavations at Enkomi in 1934, in making several discoveries which are particularly instructive for this period,
65 figures hard to readstruck struck outadded written in above” jug ditto, and what it repeatsword reading not certain
