Notes on Museum registration numbers, dating and place of
production
Object registration sequences
1897,0401.1-1572: contains the bulk of the
material (1,638 objects). There are gaps in the sequence as some
numbers were not assigned. Other numbers included more than one
object and these were later sub-divided, using a lower case letter
or an asterisk, giving each object an individual number.
Occasionally, fragments of an object were registered separately and
later joined.
1898,0224.1: purchased from
Charles Christian.
1899,0604.3: purchased from
Percy Christian.
1900,0615.1-72: 72 objects
purchased from J.W. Williamson in 1900. The register notes that
this sequence are objects purchased in Cairo but 'almost certainly
found at Enkomi in 1896'. Some certainly originated in Tomb 93
(1900,0615.1 joins to 1897,0401.532) and there is a distinct
probability that all originated in Tomb 93. Further evidence lies
in the fact that Tomb 93 is the only tomb excavated which contains
gold scrap and ingot droplets (apart from the five cut fragments of
gold spiral registered in 1969 and assumed to come from Tomb 1).
The BM notebook mentions that the tomb was looted but obviously not
thoroughly as it remains the wealthiest tomb ever excavated at the
site. It is possible that the looting was carried out during the
BM's excavations. For these reasons this sequence of numbers has
been attributed to ‘Tomb 93 probably’.
1921.0617.1: found
unregistered with ‘Enkomi’ written on the object, probably from a
tomb.
1938,1120.1-6: six
krater fragments found unregistered but may equal
1897,0401.1556.
1966,1103.2: originally
inscribed with a duplicate 1897 registration number so
re-registered.
1969,0515.1-14: 14 previously
unregistered pieces of bronze scrap, almost certainly from the
Foundry Hoard.
1969,0701.1-57: 59 previously
unregistered objects, mainly gold fragments, found with tomb
numbers marked but no further details. Most correspond to original
notebook entries and are almost certainly from the Enkomi tombs
with which they are numbered.
1974,1101.39 =
1897,0401.1563: ivory pomegranate pin-head re-registered
in error.
1982,0315.1-2: two
textile fragments found unregistered but found in a box marked
‘Enkomi’. From the vicinity of the site, not the Late Bronze
town.
1998,0316.1: a Roman coarseware pot said to
have been acquired at Enkomi.
2006,2401: one Limestone
pestle found unregistered with ‘Enkomi’ written on the object.
A small number of 38 objects from Enkomi
registered in 1897 or 1900 are no longer identifiable in the
British Museum collections. Some may have been lost because of
physical decay of delicate materials before the development of
modern conservation science. The majority of these items, however,
have lost their association with the original site records because
they no longer have registration numbers written on them. They are
difficult to identify because most are of fairly common types, such
as simple rings and beads. Some will have been re-registered in
later years and are no longer identifiable as coming from
Enkomi. It is hoped that most of these anomalies will be
resolved when the Cyprus Digitisation Project is complete. These
objects are included in the Enkomi catalogue to provide as full a
record as possible of the original tomb groups and other
associations recorded by the original excavators. The items are
listed here in registration order:
Jewellery 204. 632-636 (no. reg. number);
1897,04-01.83, 131, 161, 181, 219, 332, 389, 433, 507, 509, 550,
633, 635-6, 645, 710-11, 731, 771, 810, 1057, 1167, 1310, 1410,
1492. 1506, 1520 (31), 1522, 1556-58, 1900.06-15.65.
Dating the material and location of production
Many of the objects found on Late Bronze Age
Cyprus and the surrounding region reflect the development of an
international style. Technologies were transferred to a new area,
adopted and modified. Raw materials not found on Cyprus (such as
ivory) were imported and used to manufacture finished goods.
Therefore, there is considerable ambiguity in the location of
production for many of the objects and this is reflected in the
database. Many of the objects have more than one location of
production or no location assigned. In addition, it is often
extremely difficult to establish the period during which certain
objects were manufactured. This arises partly from the Cypriot
practice of using tombs for multiple burials for up to 500 years.
The conditions in the tombs, as well as the high extent of looting
and disturbance in antiquity make it often impossible to assign
groups of objects to specific burials, even when the tombs have
been carefully excavated and recorded. The main class of object
generally found in Late Cypriot tombs, and the most chronologically
sensitive, is locally produced pottery. It is apparent from the
material in the stores, and from the notebooks, that very little of
the local pottery was collected or kept and it is not possible to
be certain that the objects retained represent the entire span of
tomb use.
The database includes only the relative
chronological period (or periods) during which an object may have
been manufactured. It should be noted that dates given, either
within the general discussion of the tombs or for the objects
themselves, are all extremely broad and based upon what is known
about that type of object, rather than the date of construction and
use of the tomb itself. Absolute dates are not included for each
object but the chronological chart below gives approximate dates
for the relative chronological phases. Where possible, the standard
terminology for the specific region of manufacture has been used.
For example, Late Cypriot (LC) for Cyprus, Late Helladic (LH) for
Mycenaean Greece, Late Minoan (LM) for Crete and Late Bronze Age
(LBA) for the Levant. For Egypt, the term Second Intermediate
Period (SIP) is used for the Hyksos phase and New Kingdom (NK), or
where possible the dynasty in question, for the period equating
with the Late Bronze Age.