Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (10.1998(1999))

NEA PAPHOS

CYPRUS

both rooms, revealing pottery sherds of the
period not extending beyond the middle of
the second cent. AD. This date was con-
firmed also by terracotta oil lamps.
Immediately under the relatively thin layer
of cultivated soil, there was a 20-40 cm
thick layer of brownish soil with occasion-
al stones and many sherds of pottery. There
followed a more substantial layer of mason-
ry blocks mixed with soil, fragments of
white and color plaster (the latter only in
R6N). In the lowest part of the fill in
R6N, the amount of colored plaster
increased at the bottom, in some parts
completely covering the floor (Fig. 3).
An especially rich harvest of pottery
comes from the third layer, from among

the masonry blocks. Storage ware and
cooking-pot sherds predominanted, table-
ware being scarce. Amphorae of sub-Coan
type III, Mau 27/28 (both pinkish-red and
yellowish variants) were particularly char-
acteristic along with amphorae of probably
local Cypriot origin.2)
While the decoration of Room 6N
points to its more official character, the
room to the south (R6S) reveals a different
function. Its floor was paved with large rec-
tangular slabs, surviving in good condition
especially in the western end (Fig. 4).
Near the mouth of a water cistern locat-
ed in the southwestern part of the room,
some of the blocks had collapsed into it as
a result of underwashing by water from

Fig. 2. Plan of the Hellenistic and Early Roman houses in the area south of the Nilla of Theseus
(Drawing S. Medeksza)


2> J.W. Hayes, Paphos III, p. 95, no. 45.

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