Enkomi (also Mallia) is a 2nd millennium BC archaeological site on the eastern coast of Cyprus a short distance from the village of Enkomi. The site appears to currently be under disputed governance. A number of Cypro-Minoan Script inscriptions were found there including the longest known clay tablet. It has been suggested that this city was the Alashiya of the Amarna letters and in texts from several areas of the ancient Near East. The site is known for the hundreds of rich tombs that have been excavated and for exceptional metallurgic finds like the Ingot God and the Horned God.
History
The chronology of Cyprus during the later half of the 2nd millennium BC is defined as follows:Crawford, Katherine A., and Marc-Antoine Vella, "Cyprus Dataset: Settlements from 11000 BCE to 1878 CE", Journal of Open Archaeology Data 10.7, pp. 1-6, 2022 Late Cypriot I LC I 1650–1550 BC Late Cypriot IIA LC IIA 1550–1450 BC Late Cypriot IIB LC IIB 1450–1300 BC Late Cypriot IIC LC IIC 1300–1200 BC Late Cypriot IIIA LC IIIA 1200–1100 BC Late Cypriot IIIB LC IIIB 1100–1050 BC
Enkomi was settled in the Middle Bronze Age, near an inlet from the sea (now silted up). From about the 16th to 12th centuries BC, it was an important trading center for copper, which was smelted at the site, with strong cultural links to Ugarit on the facing coast of Syria.
The complicated and badly disturbed stratigraphy of the site has four major phases, with many subdivisions: Level A, Middle Bronze, a poorly represented preliminary stratum on bedrock. Pottery and scarabs found there led the excavators to date the level to 1900 to 1700 BC. The site then had a period of abandonment leaving a sterile stratum in the archaeological record;Schaeffer, C. F. A., "Enkomi", American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 165–77, 1948Crewe, Lindy, "The Foundation of Enkomi: A New Analysis of the Stratigraphic Sequence and Regional Ceramic Connections", Vol. 37, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2007 Level I A, and B, at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age. Dated by the excavators to have started slowly , reached property by , and been destroyed by an earthquake . Corresponds to the Late Cypriote I and II; Level II A, and B, with many subdivisions, covering the elaborate expansion of the 14th and 13th centuries and ending in a mass destruction ; Level III A, B, and C, with Mycenaean settlers, with a destructive attack, possibly related to the Sea Peoples in IIIA, culturally continuous with IIIB, ending in a destruction , and IIIC, a final, Mycenaean phase with dwindling population.Mountjoy, P. A., "The end of the Bronze Age at Enkomi, Cyprus: the problem of Level III B1", Annual of the British School at Athens 100, pp. 125-214, 2005
Archaeology
Overview of Excavation History
Following more than a decade of damage by looters attracted by the high quality of Enkomi's tomb gifts, Alessandro Palma di Cesnola drew the attention of archaeologists to the site after very briefly digging there in 1878.Munro, J. A. R., and H. A. Tubbs, "Excavations in Cyprus 1890", Journal of Hellenic Studies XIL, pp. 59-198, 1891 Most of the early excavations focused on the tomb area. The settlement remains were thought to be from the Byzantine period and a substantial portion were destroyed assuming they were unimportant. Alexander Stuart Murray worked there for the British Museum from 1895 to 1898. A total of 100 tombs were excavated. Under laws at the time, 2/3 of the finds went to the British Museum and the rest to the Cyprus Museum. The publication of excavation results was quite thin, mainly covering high status items.Murray, A. S., A. H. Smith and Η. B. Walters, "Excavations in Cyprus", Trustees of the British Museum, London, 1900 In 2003, the original excavation field notebook was published, detailing most of the individual tomb excavations. Tatton-Brown, V., "Enkomi: the notebook in the British Museum", Cahierdu Centre d'Etudes Chypriotes 33, pp. 9-65, 2003 Unsuccessful trial excavations, also in the tomb area, were conducted in 1913 by the Cyprus Museum and in 1927 by R. Gunnis, though the latter did discover a hoard of bronzes.Myres, J.L., "Excavations in Cyprus, 1913", Annual of the British School at Athens 41, pp. 53–104, 1940–45 Crewe, Lindy, "From lithograph to web: the British museum's 1986 Enkomi excavations", Κυπριακή Αρχαιολογία Τόμος V (Archaeologia Cypria, Vol. V), pp. 57-70, 2007 In 1930, a Swedish Cyprus Expedition team led by Einar Gjerstad excavated for two months in the tomb area, uncovering 22 "productive" tombs. Human remains were found seated and supine with robes fastened by gold pins, with grave goods of gold, silver, faience, and ivory. Some had diadems on their foreheads decorated with geometric ornaments, floral motifs or figures, and gold tin over their mouths. Ceramic and bronze vessels contained food and drink offerings. Gjerstad, E., J. Lindros, E. Sjoqvist and A. Westholm, "The Swedish Cyprus expedition: finds and results of the excavation in Cyprus 1927-1931. Vol. 1 (Text)", Stockholm: Victor Pettersons bokindustriaktiebolag, 1934 Gjerstad, E., J. Lindros, E. Sjoqvist and A. Westholm, "The Swedish Cyprus expedition: finds and results of the excavation in Cyprus 1927-1931. Vol. 2 (Text)", Stockholm: Victor Pettersons bokindustriaktiebolag, 1935 Gjerstad, E., J. Lindros, E. Sjoqvist and A. Westholm, "The Swedish Cyprus expedition: finds and results of the excavation in Cyprus 1927-1931. Vol. 3 (Text)", Stockholm: Victor Pettersons bokindustriaktiebolag, 1937 It has been suggested that one pottery shard was manufactured in Canaan, specifically in Ashdod.Gunneweg, Jan, et al., "A Canaanite Jar from Enkomi", Israel Exploration Journal, Vol. 37, nos. 2/3, pp. 168–72, 1987Mazar, Amihai., "A Note on Canaanite Jars from Enkomi", Israel Exploration Journal, Vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 224–26, 1988 As they assumed that burial and settlement areas were separated the excavators used a pit digging technique that ended up destroying settlement remains:
In 1934, Claude Frédéric-Armand Schaeffer put in trial trenches, including about 200 soundings and partially excavating one building he named the Maison des Bronzes. Excavations were conducted between 1948 and 1973 by a joint expedition between Schaeffer for the French Expedition and Porphyrios Dikaios on behalf of the Cyprus Department of Antiquities. Early work determined that the site had been protected by a Cyclopean wall constructed of stone orthostat slabs up to long.Schaeffer, C. F. A., "Missions en Chypre. 1932-1935", Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, Foundation Marius Fontane, Voyages Archeologiques, Paris, 1936Dikaios, P., "Enkomi. Excavations 1948-1958. Vols. I-IIIB.", Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz am Rhein, 1969-71Schaeffer, C. F. A., "Enkomi-Alasia. Nouvelles Missions en Chypre 1946-1950", Paris, 1952Schaeffer, C. F. A., et al., "Fouilles d’Enkomi-Alasia Dans l’île de Chypre, Campagne de 1967. Rapport Préliminaire", Syria, Vol. 45, nos. 3/4, pp. 263–74, 1968Schaeffer, C. F. A., (ed.), "Alasia I, Mission archeologique d'Alasia IV", Paris, 1971 The wall enclosed an area of about 2.5 hectares.van Wijngaarden, Gert Jan, "Enkomi-Ayios Iakovos", Use and Appreciation of Mycenaean Pottery in the Levant, Cyprus and Italy: (Ca. 1600-1200 BC), Amsterdam University Press, pp. 129–60, 2002 Cypriot excavations were conducted from 1848 until 1958 under Dikaios. French excavations, on behalf of the French National Centre for Scientific Research, proceeded under Schaeffer until 1970 at which point the expedition was led by Oliver Pelon. Excavation ended with the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus and the status of excavated objects in Mission storage are currently unknown.Pelon, Olivier, et al., "Rapport Sommaire Sur La XXIe Campagne de Fouilles a Enkomi-Alasia (Chypre), Mars-Avril 1971", Syria, Vol. 48, nos. 3/4, pp. 323–35, 1971Pelon, Ο., E. and J. Lagarce, "La XXIIIe campagne de fouilles a Enkomi-Alasia (Chypre). Rapport preliminaire", Syria L, pp. 101-114, 1973
City Plan Enkomi is enclosed by walls, with at least three gates at the north, west and south side located. Built on plain grounds, the city is supposed to have perpendicular streets: one Main Street from north to south and smaller ones from east to west, among which houses, sanctuaries and building complexes are located. Dikaios and Schaeffer's excavation focused on designated Area I and Area III (they are the only two areas which have been thoroughly excavated to the level of bedrock), which they treated as independent and not stratigraphically linked building entities. Besides, Dikaios tends to attribute the end of each occupation level to external invasion or massive destruction, such as the sea peoples invasion at the end of Bronze Age.
Area I
This area has no rich tombs. It has 12 rooms and 2 courts in its earliest stage, functioning as "an independent unit". In one particular room, infant burials from 2 different occupation periods are attested - the only room where intramural tombs are detected in this area. Infants are put into jars and then buried in a pit.
Most rooms in Area I could be interpreted as domestic structure, including vestibules, halls, and possibly rooms for storage, and even a corridor used as bathroom according to Dikaios.
Area III Some archaeologists suppose Area III functions as "industrial facility, elite structure or fortification", especially in copper production. In contrast to Area I, Area III is oftener reused and rebuilt.
Metallurgy
An extensive metallurgy industry was found at Enkomi.Courtois, J.-C., "L´activité métallurgique et les bronzes d´Enkomi au Bronze Recent (1650–1100 avant J.C)", in J.D. Muhly, R. Maddin & V. Karageorghis (eds), Early Metallurgy in Cyprus 4000–500 BC, Nicosia, pp. 155–174, 1982 Numerous production facilities, raw materials, and finished products were excavated, including three copper oxhide ingots (one at the Cyprus Museum and one at Harvey Mudd College). The most notable finished good finds were the "Ingot God", a statue wearing a horned conical hat and greaves, armed with shield and spear, and standing on a miniature hide-shaped ingot, and "Horned God".Kassianidou, Vasiliki, "Metallurgy and metalwork in Enkomi–Revisiting Porphyrios Dikaios’ excavations", Ancient Cyprus today: museum collections and new research. SIMA 184, pp. 79-90, 2016Kassianidou, V., "Metallurgy and metalwork in Enkomi: the early phases", in V. Kassianidou & G. Papasavvas (eds), Eastern Mediterranean Metallurgy and Metalwork in the Second Millennium BC, Oxford, pp. 94–106, 2012Papasavvas, George, "A Change in Attitude: X-Ray Images of the Ingot God from Enkomi", “And in Length of Days Understanding”(Job 12: 12) Essays on Archaeology in the Eastern Mediterranean and Beyond in Honor of Thomas E. Levy, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 1355-1390, 2023
The Horned God, measuring in height, was found in a pit dug in the third phase of a very large tripartite ashlar building, built in the Late Cypriot III period (early 12th century BC) over earlier structures destroyed by an earthquake, also the dating of the statue. Large numbers of oxen skulls, stag antlers, animal bones, and miniature horns of gold sheet and other gold ornaments were found in the area in which the statue had originally stood, suggesting ritual activity. This level was also destroyed.Dikaios, Porphyrios, "The bronze statue of a horned god from Enkomi", Heft 1/1962, Archäologischer Anzeiger, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 1-40, 1962Papasavvas, George, "Feasting, deposition and abandonment in the sanctuary of the Horned God at Enkomi", Structure, Measurement and Meaning. Studies on Prehistoric Cyprus in Honour of David Frankel. Edited by Jennifer M. Webb. Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology 143, pp. 245-60, 2014