Amathus: the Swedish Cyprus Expedition necropolis survey

In 1930 the Swedish Cyprus Expedition examined 26 tombs in the necropolis of Amathus, and Gjerstad reports that the oldest belonged to the Early Iron Age and that no Bronze Age tombs were found.¹ Alfred Westholm conducted the fieldwork, surveying the ancient necropolis, while Einar Gjerstad led the expedition.² The excavation began at the end of March and concentrated on the south-western necropolis, between the acropolis and the sea; Gjerstad says the expedition first tried to establish that the other parts of the burial ground held no earlier tombs.¹

Gjerstad describes most of the tombs as differing from the usual Cypriot type, with rectangular shafts reached by narrow passages, and one monumental tomb with two chambers. The grave goods were plentiful: pottery, scarabs, faience amulets, metal objects and imported vases.¹ He dates the tombs he discusses to about 1050 to 475 BC, Cypro-Geometric and Cypro-Archaic, while Göransson gives a wider range, from Cypro-Geometric I to the Roman period, approximately 1050 BC to c. AD 150.^1,2 Gjerstad argued that one tomb type at Amathus can be associated with the primitive Cypriot cultural stock.¹

Westholm published the excavation as "Amathus" in volume II of The Swedish Cyprus Expedition (1935), pp. 1 to 141³, and Pieper catalogued the scarabs in an appendix to the same volume, including two from Tomb 23.⁴