Rescue excavationDepartment of Antiquities

Kyrenia: Department rescue excavations and the Kyrenia District Museum

Name: Kyrenia: Department rescue excavations and the Kyrenia District Museum
Start: 1962
End: 1972

1962–1972 · Kyrenia

Department of Antiquities rescue work in and around Kyrenia, 1962 to 1972, reported year by year in the annual chronicles: Classical and Hellenistic tombs, a Late Cypriot cemetery at Mylopetres and a votive pit at Chrysochorajo.

Map of Cyprus

Where the work took place

Ground above 200, 500, 1,000 m

Site

1Kyrenia

Modern coastline (OpenStreetMap) and relief (Copernicus DEM).

The project

The Department of Antiquities recovered material at Kyrenia between 1962 and 1972 from tombs and deposits found by accident, and the annual chronicles name no director for the work^1,2. Karageorghis noted in 1964 that systematic excavation of ancient Kyrenia was practically impossible because the modern town stood on the ancient city, so that chance discoveries were the source of knowledge³. In 1963, building works at Chrysochorajo, on the north-eastern edge of the town, exposed a built bothros with Classical and Hellenistic votives, among them limestone statuettes including a triple Hecate group, and a bronze coin of Ptolemy I; the report suggests the offerings belonged to a nearby sanctuary³. Classical tombs in the northern necropolis, which the report says also held late Archaic tombs, were excavated in 1964 and 1965; the 1964 tomb with two burial layers was dated Cypro-Classical I^4,5. A rock-cut tomb in the courtyard of the Dome Hotel, described as looted, held two clay sarcophagi and material from Hellenistic I to Roman I⁵.

In 1969 a chance discovery at Mylopetres, in the upper part of the town, revealed a Late Cypriot cemetery previously unknown. The report dates the finds to the second half of the thirteenth century BC; the half-looted tomb held a Rude Style krater showing a bull sniffing a bush, Late Mycenaean IIIB pottery and Base Ring II wares⁶. Six tombs in central Kyrenia followed in 1970, five half-looted and one intact, the intact one dated from the end of the Classical to the beginning of the Roman period, with an Attic lekythos, gold mouth covers and silver earrings⁷. Four tombs at Kato Kyrenia were reported for 1971, of which Tomb 30 was late Classical and Tombs 29, 31 and 32 Hellenistic or early Roman⁸.

The emergency excavations of 1972 included Tomb 33, a Cypro-Geometric II burial in a cemetery known for Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic graves; Tomb 36, a Classical tomb with an Attic red-figure lekythos and two glass masks; and Tomb 34, a large rock-cut tomb with loculi for twelve sarcophagi, which held gold and bronze coins, gold myrtle leaves, rings, lamps and glass². Finds from a 1964 tomb were in the Kyrenia Regional Museum, and the 1972 notice says the museum acquired material from several of the emergency-excavated tombs^2,4.

Institutions

Department of Antiquities of CyprusSponsor
Kyrenia District MuseumPartner

Seasons

9 seasons

1962
Small Classical tomb holding only ordinary vases, including a Plain White VII jar. Small Classical tomb with two skeletons and a few ordinary jugs and bowls.
[1]
1963
Built bothros discovered in building works with Classical and Hellenistic votives: horse terracottas, limestone statuettes including a triple Hecate group, a fragmentary near-life-size terracotta woman with rich necklaces and horned-animal bracelets (second half of 5th century), and a Ptolemy I coin; a sanctuary is implied but no architecture found. Tomb uncovered by bulldozer near the village cemetery: much Black Polished and Red Polished ware including a large spouted bowl with relief zigzag and impressed circles, 57 cm diameter.
[2]
1964
Two Classical tombs dug; one rich with Plain Ware VI, Egyptian eye-of-Horus amulets, glass face pendants, a gold vase pendant, iron strigil and lamp stands, two bronze mirrors, two burial layers (seven and two skeletons), Cypro-Classical I; also vases from water trenches and a Cypro-Archaic II tomb at Glykiotissa.
[3]
1965
Two more Cypro-Classical II tombs beside those found in 1964, with Plain White VII jugs, amphorae and saucer lamps and a White Painted VII jug with wreath. Looted rock-cut chamber with two clay sarcophagi, used Hellenistic I to Roman I: glazed-painted lagynoi, Pergamene ware, Megarian bowls, gold earrings with winged cupids, gold beads and myrtle leaves. A Cypro-Archaic I tomb with many Black-on-Red II cups and jugs and White Painted IV amphorae.
[4]
1966
A Cypro-Classical II tomb in a known necropolis yielded Plain White bowls, jugs and saucer lamps.
[5]
1969
New Late Cypriot cemetery: half-looted tomb with Rude Style krater (bull sniffing a bush), local stirrup jar and three-handled jar, late Mycenaean IIIB dishes, Base Ring II.
[6]
1970
Six tombs excavated in the town centre, five half-looted and one intact, late Classical to Roman: sigillata, lamps, glass, an Attic lekythos, iron candelabra and strigils, a gold mouth-cover pair and silver crescent earrings.
[7]
1971
Material from four tombs: Tomb 30 (late Classical) with Plain White vessels, an Attic black-glaze bowl and an iron strigil; Tombs 29, 31, 32 (Hellenistic or early Roman) with Plain White, Pergamene bowls and many glass bottles and cups; coins Ptolemy I to Augustus in T. 29, glass bearded-head pendant.
[8]
1972
Rescue excavations of town tombs: a Cypro-Geometric II tomb (first of that date in a known cemetery) with Bichrome II flask and bag-shaped jug; a Classical tomb with an Attic red-figure lekythos, Attic cup and two glass masks; and a large rock-cut Roman-Early Christian tomb (chamber 7.70 x 6.30 m, loculi for twelve sarcophagi) with gold and bronze coins, gold myrtle leaves, rings and lamps.
[9]

What was found

Periods

Features and finds

two-layer burial; Rude Style krater; intact tomb.

Tombs

Tomb 4, Tomb 5, Tomb 3, CS 1746, T. 30, T. 29, T. 31, T. 32, T. 33, T. 34, T. 36

Publications

9 items

Chronique des fouilles (Bulletin de correspondance hellénique)

Other fieldwork at Kyrenia · 5

References

1.V. Karageorghis, 1963, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1962, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 87.
2.V. Karageorghis, 1973, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1972, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 97.
3.V. Karageorghis, 1964, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1963, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 88.
4.V. Karageorghis, 1965, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1964, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 89.
5.V. Karageorghis, 1966, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1965, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 90.
6.V. Karageorghis, 1970, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1969, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 94.
7.V. Karageorghis, 1971, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1970, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 95.
8.V. Karageorghis, 1972, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1971, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 96.

Sources

1.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1962, p. 38.
2.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1963, pp. 51–54; pp. 24–25.
3.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1964, pp. 28–31.
4.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1965, p. 44; pp. 45–46.
5.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1966, p. 38.
6.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1969, p. 18.
7.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1970, p. 29.
8.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1971, p. 29.
9.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1972, pp. 25–27.