Ormidhia: Luigi Palma di Cesnola's tomb clearances

Luigi Palma di Cesnola wrote that he undertook systematic explorations of a burial ground at Ormidhia in 1870–71 and 1875¹. He placed it in a triangle formed by Ormidia, Timbo and Afgoro, described it as extensive, and said it yielded the largest and most highly decorated vases found in Cyprus. He reported finding no traces of temples or ancient habitations¹.

Maria Hadjicosti questions his location. She reports that no tomb groups are known from the centre of that triangle, proposes Lacsha tou Solomou as a possible match, and suggests that the finds may have come from several places in the valley, with Limni and Tsifli as possible areas². She reports that many of the finest objects Cesnola assigned to the area are Cypro-Geometric III or Cypro-Archaic I, including terracotta figurines, two of them holding or wearing masks, and she questions whether all the material attributed to Ormideia was found there². Averett reports two masked figurines attributed to Ormidhia from unspecified graves, with no further grave information recorded³.

The amphora known as the Ormidhia Vase is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. J. L. Myres describes it as an Iron Age Cypriote vessel of the Bichrome IV class, dating to the early sixth century BC, and states that it came to the Metropolitan Museum with Cesnola's collection in 1873. Its findspot and associations are not recorded⁴.