DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.25181#0001
VI.— On the different styles of Tottery found in Ancient Tombs in the Island of
Cyprus. By Thomas B. Sandwith, Esq., H.B.M. Vice-Consul.
Read May 4th, 1871.
Becent excavations in Cyprus have brought to light a vast number of tombs
of the primitive inhabitants of the Island, and a careful examination of the
contents of these will help us to understand something of the manners, ideas,
and artistic character of the different peoples whose remains are there deposited.
The form of the tomb commonly prevailing resembles that of the circular
oven in common use in the East at this day, varying in size from four to six feet
high, and from six to ten feet across. These are hollowed out of the earth, or
in some instances the rock, without any stones or plaster being used in their con-
struction. A small door, closed by a rough slab, from two to four feet below
the surface, furnished the means of ingress, in front of which was a pit, after-
wards filled in with earth; hut in some, indeed most, cemeteries the door was
communicated with by a narrow sloping passage about fifteen or twenty feet
long, which likewise was filled in with earth.
The position chosen for the cemeteries was nearly always a gentle slope a few
hundred yards from the town or village where the community dwelt, which,
as wras to be expected, generally occupied the same or nearly the same site as the
modern villages. Sometimes the burial-place selected was the abrupt face of a
hill, where the door, though it might be more conveniently placed above the
surface, is always found a little below, as if to conceal all trace of it. It is a
proof of the greater prosperity and denser population of the land in the remote
times now under consideration, that burial-places are frequently found in spots
in the neighbourhood of which no villages now exist, while others again near
little villages are so extensive as to have evidently belonged to large towns.
This indeed we are prepared to expect from the ancient historical records of the
island, which tell of naval and military contingents levied from the inhabitants
by its Egyptian and Persian conquerors such as could only have been raised from
VOL. XLV.
T
Cyprus. By Thomas B. Sandwith, Esq., H.B.M. Vice-Consul.
Read May 4th, 1871.
Becent excavations in Cyprus have brought to light a vast number of tombs
of the primitive inhabitants of the Island, and a careful examination of the
contents of these will help us to understand something of the manners, ideas,
and artistic character of the different peoples whose remains are there deposited.
The form of the tomb commonly prevailing resembles that of the circular
oven in common use in the East at this day, varying in size from four to six feet
high, and from six to ten feet across. These are hollowed out of the earth, or
in some instances the rock, without any stones or plaster being used in their con-
struction. A small door, closed by a rough slab, from two to four feet below
the surface, furnished the means of ingress, in front of which was a pit, after-
wards filled in with earth; hut in some, indeed most, cemeteries the door was
communicated with by a narrow sloping passage about fifteen or twenty feet
long, which likewise was filled in with earth.
The position chosen for the cemeteries was nearly always a gentle slope a few
hundred yards from the town or village where the community dwelt, which,
as wras to be expected, generally occupied the same or nearly the same site as the
modern villages. Sometimes the burial-place selected was the abrupt face of a
hill, where the door, though it might be more conveniently placed above the
surface, is always found a little below, as if to conceal all trace of it. It is a
proof of the greater prosperity and denser population of the land in the remote
times now under consideration, that burial-places are frequently found in spots
in the neighbourhood of which no villages now exist, while others again near
little villages are so extensive as to have evidently belonged to large towns.
This indeed we are prepared to expect from the ancient historical records of the
island, which tell of naval and military contingents levied from the inhabitants
by its Egyptian and Persian conquerors such as could only have been raised from
VOL. XLV.
T