History of excavation at Enkomi
Enkomi has a long and colourful history of
excavation. Major Alexander di Cesnola (brother of Luigi Palma di
Cesnola) seems to have been the first person to draw the site to
the attention of archaeologists but by this time many of the tombs
had already been looted. Following a bequest from a Miss Emma
Tourner Turner to be used to fund excavation, the Department of
Greek and Roman Antiquities at the British Museum was allocated the
money to conduct investigations on Cyprus. In addition to Enkomi
explored in 1896, the sites of Kourion, Amathus, (Murray et al.
1900; Tatton-Brown 2003), Hala Sultan Tekke (Åström et al. 1976),
Maroni (Johnson 1980) and others were also excavated over a period
from 1892–9.
The impetus for an investigation of the area
was the presence of two looted tumuli inland from the later Iron
Age town of Salamis, near the modern village of Enkomi. The Museum
expedition excavated a total of 100 tombs, many of which had been
previously looted, and encountered a series of wells, which they
believed yielded no evidence for dating. The ruins of two small
chapels, and a few shallow graves cut into the upper soil layer
containing glazed mediaeval wares, led them wrongly to conclude
that the wells and architectural remains all dated to
the thirteenth or fourteenth century AD (Murray et al.
1900:5).
The publication of the wealth and extent of
the cemetery led to further excavations in the area. In 1913 the
Cyprus Museum undertook a trial excavation and in 1927 another was
begun by a Mr R. Gunnis (Catling 1964: 281-282; Myres 1946). Both
were unsuccessful in locating further tombs. The next large-scale
excavation was undertaken over two months during 1930 by the
Swedish Cyprus Expedition (Gjerstad et al. 1934: 467-577). A total
of 22 ‘productive’ tombs were excavated. It was not until 1934 that
the contemporaneity of the settlement and tombs was recognised by
C.F.A. Schaeffer (Schaeffer 1934: 83-93). Schaeffer immediately
commenced digging trial trenches but was unable to return to the
site again until 1946, after the war (Schaeffer 1952). Due to
commitments to his concurrent excavation at Ras Shamra in Syria,
Schaeffer requested the assistance of the Cypriot Department of
Antiquities and a joint project was instigated. The two teams dug
separately, at different times of the year, in order to utilise the
same foremen and local workforce. The Cypriot excavation, carried
out under the directorship of the then curator of the Cyprus
Museum, Porphyrios Dikaios, was undertaken over twelve seasons from
1948 to 1958 and has been fully published (Dikaios 1969–71).
Schaeffer led the French Mission until 1970 when directorship
passed to O. Pelon who continued until 1973, after which time the
Turkish invasion and subsequent partition of the island in 1974
brought an end to excavations. Some of the French Mission’s work
has been published in a series of volumes and preliminary reports
(including Schaeffer 1936, 1952, 1971; Courtois 1981; Lagarce &
Lagarce 1985; Courtois, Lagarce & Lagarce 1986).
Around 185 tombs have been excavated at the site by all the
missions but there is a lot of variability in excavation techniques
and thoroughness of publication. Despite all these shortcomings, a
glimpse into the changing structure of the town and the
relationship of the tombs to the buildings can be gained from the
Cypriot excavation areas (Dikaios 1969–71, Volume IIIB, Plates
242–93). Built initially into courtyards and open spaces between
buildings, tombs may have been sealed (or contents relocated)
during expansion of settlement areas, or else incorporated into
building and street plans if still in use. By the later LCII and
earlier LCIIIA periods (ca. 1300-1100 BC) which is marked
by the appearance of a town grid and monumental ashlar buildings
all over the excavated portions of Enkomi, the majority of earlier
tombs had been sealed by the expansion of the settlement. The later
LCIIC and LCIIIA tombs are generally pit or shaft graves within the
area of the buildings or else burials placed in older chamber tombs
which remained in use.