Kouklia: Department of Antiquities rescue excavations (Kouklia Museum)

Directed by

• J. S. Last1954
• Ioannis ViolarisLoures tombs, undated

Team

• Demetrios Michaelides
• Porphyrios Dikaios

• Department of Antiquities of CyprusSponsor
• Palaipaphos Museum (Kouklia)Host

1. 1954

   Foundation digging for a school hit classical houses over earlier tombs whose contents had been removed and reburied in pits with Mycenaean pottery.

   Directed by J. S. Last[1]

2. 1957

   An Ionian-type skyphos said to come from Asproyi acquired; a looted tomb at Trakhonia, previously unknown cemetery, cleared by the Department with a Bichrome IV amphora.

   [3]

3. 1958

   Previously opened Roman tomb with four chambers examined under difficult conditions: coarse jugs and cooking pots, about two dozen glass pieces (a Syrian-made moulded amphoriskos), a silver fibula, an ivory box, two bronze mirrors.

   [4]

4. 1960

   A CG III tomb at Moulissa with a Black-on-Red chariot jug; a Kato Alonia tomb with three burial layers (CA I with fibulae, CC II, Roman). Tomb exposed by a collapsed ceiling, used twice: upper Roman burial (bronze mirrors, moulded glass bowl, glass flask, egg shells) and lower Cypro-Archaic II burial with a Bichrome Red II hydria with a moulded figurine. Pit with seventy late Mycenaean IIIB-type vases found during levelling; similar pits at Evreti. Levelling in Turkish primary school yard exposed a pit of over 70 vases, 60 Mycenaean IIIB bowls and cups of local make, ivory comb piece and bronze bowl, probably a reburial of earlier tomb goods, 12th c.; at Evreti pits with LC II-III pottery cleared. Three tombs rescued during levelling NE of the Turkish school, one early Iron Age, others Bichrome IV-V and White Painted IV-V; a Black-on-Red II jug has a rare chariot scene with a helmeted warrior.

   [5], [6]

5. 1961

   Excavation of the lower burial of a tomb with Archaic and Roman burials, disturbed by levelling work in 1960: a Cycladic cup, Black-on-Red bowl, two bronze fibulae, bronze horse frontlets and an iron bit, possibly from a chariot burial. Two chance-found tombs with Cypro-Archaic I vases including Bichrome Red jugs and Black-on-Red bowls.

   [7]

6. 1962end of 1962

   Dromos of a Cypro-Archaic I tomb excavated at the end of 1962: 12 m long, 4.1 m deep at the facade, with a horse skeleton, a sheep's head and forelegs and two bronze blinkers; a second horse was displaced by Cypro-Archaic II reuse. Later Hellenistic and Roman burials were cut into the dromos fill and chamber.

   [8]

7. 1966

   Looted tomb of the early 11th century BC discovered the last week of 1966, fully excavated and planned: small rock-cut chamber with a short dromos; Proto-White Painted amphorae, stirrup vases, amphoriskoi, bird-shaped vases, kalathos with painting, one snake-handled jug.

   [9]

8. 1967

   Cypro-Classical II tomb with Plain White pottery, a jug with bull protome, and a silver didrachm of Alexander. Late Roman tomb with plain jugs and cooking pots.

   [10]

9. 1969

   Levelling exposed pits (not tombs) with Late Cypriot II-III pottery: shallow banded bowls, a tubular-spouted jug, White Slip, andesite dishes; also Attic sherds and a bronze bowl showing Classical reuse. Tomb with Bichrome IV jug, Bichrome Red I bowls and a bronze and an iron beaded-bow fibula. Small chamber tomb with Cypro-Archaic I pottery whose stomion was closed by a limestone slab originally the back of a throne with an incised winged sun disc. Large multiple-burial chamber tomb with two side chambers, floor pit and niches with Cypro-Archaic I material and a later Cypro-Classical II burial (two limestone pseudo-alabastra).

   [11]

10. 1971

    Two rooms with simple geometric mosaic floors, found in building work in October 1970, cleared by the Department; the mission's soundings showed no further mosaics: a Roman house of the 2nd-3rd c. AD on Hellenistic foundations. Half-looted tomb with Proto-White Painted and Geometric I (White Painted I) pottery, including an exceptionally large amphoroid crater (52 cm), a smaller crater and a fragmentary high-footed kylix. The cemetery was earlier worked by a British expedition in 1951.

    [12]

11. 1974

    Five Cypro-Geometric I tombs found during levelling at 'Hasan Agha' (NE of village) were saved by rescue dig; White Painted I, Bichrome I and Black Slip I vases including a large stirrup jar from tomb 42. Further LC IIIB and CG I vases near the Evreti cemetery.

    [13]

12. 1981

    Eight tombs found during levelling in a known cemetery, Cypro-Geometric I to Cypro-Classical, mostly Palaepaphian pottery, including a bird-and-fish footed bowl and a compass-incised limestone bowl.

    [14]

13. 1984

    Seven tombs excavated at Mandres, Hellenistic and Roman, with unguentaria, gold-plated earrings and a rich Hellenistic necklace of eleven carnelian, quartz and gold pendants and a child's gold ring; three further Hellenistic-Roman tombs at Dhimmata. Three intercommunicating chamber tombs; two excavated, third to follow. Late Cypriot chambers with benches, new brown-spotted jug fabric, White Slip II, Base Ring II, Mycenaean IIIB; second chamber reused in Cypro-Archaic I; solid gold spiral in dromos.

    [15]

14. 1987

    Cist-type chamber tomb of LC IIC-IIIA with a central pit and three burial benches, used for several burials: Mycenaean IIIB, Base Ring II and White Slip II, painted wheelmade bowls, bronze bowls, tools and weapons, ivory and three gold diadems with rosettes. Two late Hellenistic tombs with mostly ordinary pottery; T. 116 gold myrtle leaves from a wreath, T. 115 two bronze dishes.

    Directed by V. Karageorghis[16]

15. 1993

    Unlooted chamber tomb in a cemetery first explored by the British Museum: built CG I (11th c. BC), reused CA; richly furnished CG I burial with bronze obeloi, bowl, ivory whorl, fibulae, gold earrings and rosettes, White Painted pottery. CG I tomb with dromos reused in CA I: two ceramic tripods, bronze bowls, fibulae and thymiaterion, iron obeloi, faience amulets.

    [17]

1. 1.V. Karageorghis, 1988, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1987, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 112.
2. 2.A. H. S. Megaw, 1954, Archaeology in Cyprus, 1954, Archaeological Reports 1.
3. 3.V. Karageorghis, 1961, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1960, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 85.
4. 4.V. Karageorghis, 1962, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1961, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 86.
5. 5.V. Karageorghis, 1967, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1966, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 91.
6. 6.V. Karageorghis, 1975, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1974, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 99.
7. 7.V. Karageorghis, 1982, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1981, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 106.
8. 8.V. Karageorghis, 1985, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1984, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 109.
9. 9.I. A. Todd, 1997, Archaeology in Cyprus 1987–1997, Archaeological Reports.
10. 10.V. Karageorghis, with D. Michaelides and Gisèle Clerc et al., 1990, Tombs at Palaepaphos, 1. Teratsoudhia, 2. Eliomylia, A. G. Leventis Foundation.