Limassol: the Commissioner's tomb digs of 1883

In 1883 government labourers opened tombs near the Commissioner's house at Limassol¹. Ohnefalsch-Richter reports that, with the Governor-General's permission, prisoners and a foreman dug the tombs for the Cyprus Museum². The Limassol Commissioner, Roland Lyon Nosworthy Michell, appears in the contemporary references as "R. Michell" and "M. R. Mitchell"; Reinach says the work was paid by Mitchell^2,3. The catalogue of 1899 reports objects of all periods, from Egyptianizing scarabs and a Proto-Corinthian aryballos to Roman coins, lamps and glass¹. Myres and Ohnefalsch-Richter state that no proper record was kept; Ohnefalsch-Richter also criticized the mixing of finds from different tombs, and Reinach called the digs tumultuous^1,2,3. A worm-eaten document is all that remains of any record, and the catalogue reproduces it. Its Cyprus Museum numbers, some marked "Perhaps", "?" or "Apparently", include 4822 to 4824 for a bronze fibula and 3749 for a surgical instrument with bifurcated ends¹.