Kition-Bamboula: the Swedish Cyprus Expedition

The Swedish Cyprus Expedition worked on the Bamboula mound at Kition-Bamboula, where Alfred Westholm began excavating in October 1929 and continued until April 1930¹. Fourrier describes the Swedish work as a deep sounding under the direction of Einar Gjerstad². Its aim was a stratigraphic examination of the mound to date the Phoenician colonisation of Cyprus and to investigate Phoenician influence on the development of Cypriot culture¹. After three days the excavators met a large deposit of votive sculptures, and Westholm extended the excavation¹. Göransson reports that no inscription naming the sanctuary's deity was found, although several of the statues depict Herakles-Melqart¹.

The excavators found a corner formed by two walls and a small amount of pottery, which they dated to the beginning of the Cypro-Geometric period³. Calvet later recorded these as walls 1 and 2 and cautioned that the area cleared around them was too small for a secure interpretation³. The 1977 report on the later French excavations, discussing the sanctuary excavated by E. Gjerstad in 1929, says the 1929 digs had suggested that it began two centuries later, describes earlier buildings with altars and Cypro-Geometric III pottery, and proposes that the altar building belongs to the first part of Cypro-Geometric III, around the time of the Phoenician arrival at Kition⁴.