Rescue excavationDepartment of Antiquities
Kato Deftera 'Chrysospiliotissa': Department rescue, 1973
1973 · Kato Deftera
A 1973 Department of Antiquities rescue at Chrysospiliotissa, near Kato Deftera, where sixteen Cypro-Geometric III tombs were excavated after levelling work exposed a cemetery.
Map of Cyprus
Where the work took place
- Ground above 200, 500, 1,000 m
Site
- 1Kato Deftera (approx.)
The project
Levelling work at Chrysospiliotissa, about 1 km north of Kato Deftera, exposed a cemetery in 1973, and sixteen Cypro-Geometric III tombs were excavated there1. Demos Christou directed the rescue for the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus1.
The tombs held White Painted III and Bichrome III vessels, described as ordinary, and a large quantity of Black-on-Red I (III) pottery that the report calls fine1. Tomb 1 held a Bichrome III kylix decorated with a bird in a panel on each side, and a terracotta figurine of a rider on a horse. Tomb 3 produced an iron knife with a single-edged blade and a bronze bowl1. Tomb 7 contained a shallow Black-on-Red I (III) bowl with two opposing horizontal handles on the rim; its exterior carries a bird, two facing fish and three comb-like motifs, with concentric circles in the decorative field1.
Tomb 15 contained an iron knife and a small circular lidded box, apparently of very thin silver sheet, 5.5 cm in diameter, with a loop-shaped iron handle on the lid. Inside was a yellowish substance, probably cosmetic, that had not yet been analysed. Tomb 16 also held an iron knife1. Vassos Karageorghis reported the cemetery in his 1974 chronicle of the 1973 work in Cyprus, in the Bulletin de correspondance hellénique1.
Directors and team
Directed by
- Demos Christou1973
Institutions
Seasons
1 season- 1973
Previously unknown cemetery found in levelling; sixteen Cypro-Geometric III tombs excavated with White Painted III, Bichrome III and much fine Black on Red I pottery, including a Bichrome kylix with bird, a rider figurine, an iron knife, a unique Black on Red bowl with bird and fish, and a small silver(?) box with cosmetic.
What was found
Periods
Features and finds
CS 2003; CS 2005; CS 2009; CS 2018; CS 2019.
Tombs
T. 1, T. 3, T. 7, T. 15, T. 16
Publications
1 itemChronique des fouilles (Bulletin de correspondance hellénique)
References
- 1.Vassos Karageorghis, 1974, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1973, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 98, livraison 2.