Report addressed to Mr Karageorghis on Enkomi 1962Jacques-Claude Courtois

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… partially uncovered in 1961 .

The nature and chronology of these cult places could be clarified at the course of the 1962 campaign . Alongside a new lot of figurines and felinine idols of schematic style resembling the statuettes from Ayios Iakovos (SCE t.I, pl. LXVIII, no. 6,15,16,25,44), all found intentionally broken, one discovered the remains of numerous vessels in beige earth, crushed in place and spread over three superimposed floors, numbered from top to bottom I (the most recent) to III. Uncovered between 0 m 40 and 0 m 80 average depth below the present surface; these three floors of compacted brown clayey earth, difficult to identify, form part of a sanctuary comprising a vast quadrangular hall (or temenos) measuring ten metres thirty in length north-south and over eight in width east-west. On this hall, open to the west smaller rooms where vessels and terracotta figurines were recovered. These objects rest in layers which once the level of the Early Iron I, characterised by pottery of the 'Granary' style, cf. Enkomi- Alasia I, p. 369, fig. 114, and are therefore later than it. The walls with foundations of rubble and superstructure of brick of the main hall of this new sanctuary of the town of Enkomi-Alasia were apparently coated with some plaster facings of white render . In the hall, significant discoveries, hitherto unpublished at Enkomi, have taken place . They confirm the cultic character of the building . These are figured terracottas, representing a kind of centaur, with quadruped animal body (bull or horse?) sculpted and with two human heads. The geometric decoration dotted on their cylindrical body recalls the Striphe style . The two heads, painted also to better emphasise the facial features, present some differences of detail, intended to individualise them . The single head, preserved from a second of these hybrid and triadic beings is distinguished by a large aquiline nose, pierced eyes, a painted geometric decoration in red, and long straight modelled locks and applied, descending from the nape, of the long cylindrical neck . The parts of these monsters are also stylised and end in circular swellings .

The ochre-red terracotta of the long-necked centaur is very badly fired and friable, which explains its fragmentary state . These two centaurs together represent, against the wall of the great hall, which also yielded 26 bull skulls, sometimes found … continues