Evreti tombs, Kouklia sculpture collection
The excavators had little interest in excavating tombs at Kouklia as they were sure that such tombs had most definitely been looted. After initial trials in 1951 and the discovery of the cemetery in a plot known as Skales, the search for tombs became more specific in the 1952 excavation season. Mr G. R. H Wright located the Evreti cemetery, east of the village and excavated eleven Late Cypriot chamber tombs.
This is part of the Kouklia, Ancient Cyprus collection.
The tombs were mostly rock cut out chamber ones of a medium size, orientated approximately North to South, apart from tombs No 8 and 10 which lay East to West. All the tombs had suffered disturbance over a long period. The majority of the tombs were dated to the Late Cypriot III period but they all included fragments from earlier periods Late Cypriot IIA and B (Base Ring I and II, White Slip I and II, Mycenaean IIIA and IIIB). This was an indication that the tombs had been reused over a long period. The remains of the earlier burials were swept into the central trench against the back walls after a looting in most cases of the principal offerings. Although the tombs were looted in most recent times there were some important findings, especially in tomb 8 and 3A. Tomb 3A proved rich in ivory and jewellery findings. The contents of the tombs were viewed by the excavators as similar to the findings from the Enkomi tombs.
Hector Catling and Wright completed a preliminary report of the cemetery (Catling, The St Andrews- Liverpool Museums Kouklia tomb excavation 1950-54, Nicosia, Cyprus, 1979 ).
Hector Catling worked for a number of years on the full publication of the cemeteries but much of the excavation drawings and detailed information was misplaced and not easily traced after 1955. His son Richard Catling currently oversees the final editing of his father’s work.