Katydhata and Laonarka: Markides's tomb excavations

Menelaos Markides excavated more than 100 tombs in and around Katydhata, dating from the Middle Cypriot to the Hellenistic period¹. Markides worked there in 1915 and 1916². Eight tombs numbered 100 to 107 lay in the village centre; they were described as of beehive type and dated to the Late Cypriot period¹. Tombs 73 and 75 were considered possible Early Cypriot III tombs¹. Tomb 81 was described as rich, with cylinder seals and gold, faience and bone objects¹.

Tomb 100, the "Tomb of the Ladies", contained terracotta figurines, bronze and gold earrings and Late Cypriot pottery¹. Pezzi reports that the finds from it held in the Cyprus Museum include a Red Lustrous Wheel-made flask and a Bucchero jug, which Åström considered possibly later in date². Late Helladic III A1 to III B imports and early Cypro-Mycenaean wares were reported from Tombs 11, 26, 50, 81, 90, 100 and 102¹. Fortin (1980) read the material as indicating a Mycenaean settlement, a reading Given and colleagues call precipitous¹. Åström judged that the tomb groups as a whole reflected Middle Cypriot occupation nearby, possibly contemporary with the settlement and mines at Ambelikou Aletri¹.

Markides's report gave topographical information, brief descriptions of tomb architecture and lists of finds arranged in chronological groups, according to Leriou and Vavouranakis³. His notebook, which recorded stratigraphic observations on successive burials in the tombs, is in the Cyprus Museum; it was copied in its entirety and used by Åström for his publication of Katydhata¹.