ExcavationForeign missions
Myrtou-Stephania: the Ashmolean-Sydney cemetery excavation
1951 · Myrtou-Stephania
Also known as Hennessy at Stephania; Ashmolean Museum-Sydney University Expedition, Stephania
Basil Hennessy's 1951 excavation of the Stephania cemetery at Myrtou, a Middle to Late Cypriot burial ground, and the Tomb 14A White Slip bowl that later scholars reassessed.
Map of Cyprus
Where the work took place
- Ground above 200, 500, 1,000 m
Site
- 1Myrtou-Stephania (approx.)
The project
In 1951 Basil Hennessy excavated the Stephania cemetery at Myrtou-Stephania, which Bourke describes as a Middle Cypriot to Late Cypriot cemetery.1 The work was sponsored by the Ashmolean Museum and the University of Sydney, with the Cyprus Museum as partner. Hennessy's report is Stephania: A Middle and Late Bronze Age Cemetery in Cyprus, listed under 1964.2
Tomb 14A produced a bowl that Hennessy classified as White Slip I in a 1963 publication. Eriksson argues that its design may instead place it among Phase 1 Proto White Slip, and reports a Phase 2 Proto White Slip sherd from the same tomb. He notes that the contents of all the Stephania tombs had been mixed by water surges, so the assemblage does not establish a burial sequence.3 Eriksson also argues that evidence from Toumba tou Skourou and other sites weakens the earlier reading of Stephania as a chronological gap between the Middle Cypriot and Late Cypriot ceramic traditions.4
Keswani characterizes the metal and exotic goods of the cemetery as limited compared with the sites she discusses. In her words, the most notable concentration of metal finds, six items, came from Tomb 10.5
Directors and team
Directed by
- Basil Hennessy1951
Institutions
- University of SydneySponsor
- Ashmolean MuseumSponsor
- Cyprus MuseumPartner
References
- 1.Stephen Bourke, 2014, J. Basil Hennessy AO (1925–2013), Levant 46.
- 2.J. B. Hennessy, 1964, Stephania: A Middle and Late Bronze Age Cemetery in Cyprus.
- 3.K. O. Eriksson, 2007, Significant Contexts in the Discovery of Proto White Slip and the Phases of Its Development, The Creative Independence of Late Bronze Age Cyprus: An Account of the Archaeological Importance of White Slip Ware.
- 4.K. O. Eriksson, 2007, Contexts in the discovery of White Slip I and the Thera controversy, The Creative Independence of Late Bronze Age Cyprus: An Account of the Archaeological Importance of White Slip Ware.
- 5.Priscilla Keswani, 2006, Mortuary Ritual and Society in Bronze Age Cyprus.