VII.—Tombs

Tombs of all periods were opened during the past season, a few archaic ones at Leontari Vouno, which have been described by Mr. James in his account of that site, and others at Kuklia of all subsequent ages, down to the very latest. They are usually cut in the rock or earth of a gentle slope, in many cases, as in the Xylino valley at Kuklia, tier above tier: but they are also found in level ground, approached by a sloping passage now filled with earth. The whole plateau to the east of Kuklia above the is honey-combed with earth-tombs of this kind, consisting mainly of one or two vaulted chambers, leading one out of the other, without niches for the bodies, and entered by a vaulted opening closed by a slab. Such are probably tombs of the poor: the richer Cypriotes were for the most part laid in rock-tombs, such as abound in the plain north of New Paphos, and were found by us at Old Paphos on the slopes between the Temple of Aphrodite and the sea. From their greater durability and accessibility the latter were often used two or three times over, being sometimes sanctified at last for Christian burial by innumerable crosses, cut over the niches, as is the case at Cape Drepano: thus they are usually less profitable to the explorer of to-day than the earth-chambers, which were left undisturbed in the possession of their original tenants, and were not so easily detected by the τυμβωρύχος of the early centuries of our era. Of the work of the latter we found ample evidence at Kuklia: tomb after tomb was opened on the eastern slopes, in which broken glass and pottery were lying in a huge heap either in the middle or near the door, what the thieves did not want having apparently been wantonly destroyed: the lids of the sarcophagi were either hewn in pieces or wrenched aside, and even, in some cases, in order probably to evade notice, carefully replaced in statu quo. The door was by no means the favourite place of ingress, for we often dug down to find the slab quite undisturbed, while the tomb was in the state described above, and search would reveal the presence of a hole or passage cut through the solid rock from above or at the side.