Hala Sultan Tekke (occasionally referred to as Dromolaxia-Vyzakia) is an ancient archaeological site which lies close to the mosque of the same name and the Larnaca International Airport on the south coast of Cyprus. The site lies on the western shore of the half square kilometer Larnaca Salt Lake. In the Late Bronze Age the lake was open to the Mediterranean, acting as a protected harbor for the settlement until it was raised by tectonic processes.Dalongeville, Rémi, et al., "Les variations récentes de la ligne de rivage du sud-est de Chypre", Géomorphologie: relief, processus, environnement 6, pp. 13–19, 2000 Hala Sultan Tekke was occupied , and reached its peak in the 12th and 13th century BC before being destroyed twice in a short span and then abandoned . Its ancient name is still unknown. The site has been subject to looting at various periods in the past and is endangered by modern deep agricultural plowing at the edges.Kofel, Dominika, Teresa Bürge, and Peter M. Fischer, "Crops and food choices at the Late Bronze Age city of Hala Sultan Tekke", Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 36, 2021 The site is known with certainty to cover at least 60 acres and is thought to possible cover as much as 120 acres. Its main export was copper. Another major industry was the production of purple-dyed textiles with the dye coming from the mucus gland of the murex sea snail. J. Urbanus, "In the Time of the Copper Kings", Archaeology 77, pp. 33–36, 2024 Fischer, P. M., & Bürge, T., "Late Bronze Age Purple Dye Production at Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus", D. Mylona, T. M. Brogan, M. Eaby, & M. Iacovou (Eds.), Porphyra. The Materiality of Purple Dye Production and Use in Cyprus and the Aegean from Prehistory to the Late Roman Period, Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain, pp. 67-81, 2025
Archaeology John Myres examined the site briefly in 1894. The site was excavated for about a week in December 1897 by Henry Beauchamp Walters on behalf of the British Museum with "not more than 40 workers". When he arrived the local peasants were already engaged in widespread looting. The extent of his work is unclear but he recorded 10 tombs. In April 1898 John Winter Crowfoot worked at the site for eight days, also for the British Museum. He emptied "fifty or sixty chamber tombs and several wells" and recorded 13 of the tombs which dated from the Middle Cypriot III and Late Cypriot IA-IIC periods (). The tombs had already been partly looted. Finds included Mycenae, Minoan, and Canaanite pottery, objects of gold, silver, faience, glass, bronze, and ivory, a cylinder seal, and a Cypro-Minoan inscribed clay ball.Silvia Ferrara, and Miguel Valério, "Contexts and Repetitions of Cypro-Minoan Inscriptions: Function and Subject Matter of Clay Balls", Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, no. 378, pp. 71–94, 2017 The excavator indicated that some objects were imported from Egypt. In neither of these early excavations were results published, though a few excavator notes are available. Åström, Paul, "Excavations at Hala Sultan Tekke in Cyprus", ΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΟΝΙΚΗ ΕΠΕΤΗΡΙΣ ΤΗΣ ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΙΚΗΣ ΣΧΟΛΗΣ ΤΟΥ ΠΑΝΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΙΟΥ ΑΘΗΝΩΝ, pp. 231-236, 2015Nicolaou, Kyriakos, "Archaeological News from Cyprus, 1977-1978", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 84, no. 1, pp. 63–73, 1980 In 1948 Arne Furumark discovered a large pithos at the site and conducted a short excavation of it. In 1968 Vassos Karageorghis excavated two circular chamber tombs with central roof openings in a location later excavators called "Area A, ‘The Cemetery’". All the burials showed signs of plagiocephaly, intentional cranial deformation. Finds included animal bones, ostrich eggs, objects of silver, gold, ivory, bronze, lead, and carnelian, and three cylinder seals. Mycenae pottery and Late Minoan IIIA-IIIB stirrup jars, kraters, and a bowl were also found.Karageorghis, V., "Two Late Bronze Age Tombs from Hala Sultan Tekke", in Åström, P., Bailey, M.D. and Karageorghis, V. (eds.), Hala Sultan Tekke 1, Excavations 1897–1971 (Göteborg, Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology 45/1), pp. 71–89, 1976
In 1971 a topographic survey was conducted in three trial trenches dug by the Swedish Cyprus Expedition from the University of Gothenburg, led by Paul Åström.Nicolaou, Kyriakos, "Archaeological News from Cyprus, 1972", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 77, no. 4, pp. 425–33, 1973 The survey showed that the settlement covered about east to west and about north to south. In 1972, after a proton magnetometry survey was conducted, small scale excavations began, continuing until 2008, interrupted by war in 1974. Based on the survey areas were defined in the settlement. In Area 6, northwest, a wall and 4th century BC sling bullets with signs in classical Cypriot syllabary were found. In Area 8, central, a large building dating to Late Cypriot III A2, with a courtyard, was discovered. One room in that build had ashlar block floors and walls revetted with thin stone slabs with a well containing "drinking cups, grape pips, grains, and fishbones". A wide staircase in the front of the room led down to the courtyard.Nicolaou, Kyriakos, "Archaeological News from Cyprus, 1975", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 81, no. 4, pp. 523–32, 1977 Nearby finds included stone mould for casting copper arrowheads, a bronze shovel with twisted handle, a bronze needle, a bronze pin, a faience head, a carnelian bead, and two pithoi with short Cypro-Minoan syllabary inscriptions.Nicolaou, K., "Archaeology in Cyprus, 1969-76", Archaeological Reports, no. 22, pp. 34–69, 1975Nicolaou, Kyriakos, "Archaeological News from Cyprus, 1976", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 82, no. 4, pp. 521–35, 1978Symons, D. J., "Archaeology in Cyprus, 1981-85", Archaeological Reports, no. 33, pp. 62–77, 1986 Other finds in this area included terracotta figurines, faience beads, crushed murex shells, red ochre, an ivory comb, a clay ball and stone weights with Cypriot syllabary inscriptions, and a faience scepter with a cartouche of pharaoh Horemheb. Two looted chamber tombs were cleared and produced a hematite cylinder seal.Åström, P., "The Late Cypriot Bronze Age", vol. 4, part 1C. Lund: Swedish Cyprus Expedition, 1972 An extensive industry in copper production and coppersmithing was discovered.Åström, Paul, "Excavations at Hala Sultan Tekke", Archaeology, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 58–81, 1984Mehofer, M., "Bronze Age copper production at Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus: preliminary results", in The Decline of Bronze Age Civilisations in the Mediterraean: Cyprus and Beyond, pp. 347-356, 2023 Underwater exploration between Kiti and Cape Greco found a number of anchors and other nautical items from various periods.Nicolaou, Kyriakos, "Archaeological News from Cyprus, 1973", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 79, no. 2, pp. 125–34, 1975 In 1979 a very low frequency discriminative detector survey found a number of metal objects, including lead sling bullets.Fischer, Peter M., et al., "News and Short Contributions", Journal of Field Archaeology, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 479–96, 1980
Excavation resumed (sometimes referred to as the "New Swedish Cyprus Expedition" or "The Söderberg Expedition") under Peter Fischer in 2010.Fischer, P.M., "SIMA and the New Swedish Cyprus Expedition at Hala Sultan Tekke", Webb, J.M.; Frankel, D. (eds), Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology: Fifty Years On. Uppsala: Paul Åströms förlag, pp. 73-80, 2012 The excavators noted that some looting has occurred in various periods at the site over the last century between excavations resulting in objects appearing on the antiquities market without provenance. From 2010 until 2019 excavation focused on the city center area CQ1, CQ2, CQ3, and CQ4 (which was near the harbor) and buildings had sturdier construction.Fischer, P.M.; Bürge, T., "Tombs and Offering Pits at the Late Bronze Age Metropolis of Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus", American Schools of Oriental Research, 378, pp. 1-106, 2017 Fischer, Peter M., and Tzveta V. Manolova, "Boat-shaped objects of lead from late Bronze Age Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus, and the Uluburun shipwreck", Oxford Journal of Archaeology 44.3, pp. 228-247, 2025Fischer, Peter M., "The New Swedish Cyprus Expedition 2010. Excavations at Dromolaxia Vizatzia/Hala Sultan Tekke. Preliminary results", Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome 4.4/2011, pp. 69-89, 2011Fischer, Peter M., and Teresa Bürge, "The New Swedish Cyprus Expedition 2017: Excavations at Hala Sultan Tekke (The Söderberg Expedition). Preliminary results", Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome 11, pp. 29-79, 2018Fischer, Peter M., and Teresa Bürge, "The New Swedish Cyprus Expedition (The Söderberg Expedition): excavations at Hala Sultan Tekke 2020 and 2021", Opuscula: Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome 15, pp. 7-76, 2022 There were five strata of occupation layers:Fischer, Peter M., "Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus: A Late Bronze Age Trade Metropolis", Near Eastern Archaeology, vol. 82, no. 4, pp. 236–247, 2019 Stratum 4-5 - 15th to 14th century BC Stratum 3 - 13th century BC Stratum 2 - Stratum 1 - 1st half of 12th century BC
In 2023 and 2024 the 14th and 15th excavation seasons were conducted. Work focused in the several hectare large cemetery area (Area A) which has suffered from extensive looting as well as agriculture related damage. Fischer, Peter M., et al., "The New Swedish Cyprus Expedition: The 2023 and 2024 excavations at the Late Bronze Age cemetery of Hala Sultan Tekke: Preliminary results", Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome 18, pp. 7-84, 2025
Samples for AMS radiocarbon dating (calibration with INTCAL13) were collected from the city area and from the cemetery. Calibrating C-14 dates from this time is difficult.Wild, Eva M., et al., "14C-dating of the Late Bronze Age city of Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus: status report", Radiocarbon 61.5, pp. 1253-1264, 2019
Cemetery Much of the effort has been on the cemetery area (Area A) and a major focus has been "safeguarding and recording of tombs which are exposed to destruction by farming, erosion and potential looting". The cemetery lies in the east-south-east part of the site, has an area of several hectares, and is on a slightly raised platform. The tombs there have associated ritual pits and consist of chamber tombs, shaft tombs, and re-used wells. The cemetery is extra-mural unlike the intra-urban burial method usually seen in the region in this period. Feldbacher, Rainer, et al., "An Aegean Mirror From Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus", Oxford Journal of Archaeology 43.2, pp. 153-172, 2024Fischer, Peter, et al., "The Cemetery of Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus: Excavations of Late Bronze Age Chamber Tombs in 2023", Ägypten und Levante 34, pp. 17-68, 2025 Many grave goods were imported from Mycenae area, Egypt, the Levant, and Mesopotamia.Fischer, Peter M., "A Unique Aegean Rhyton From Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus: Context, Provenance, Date, and Function", Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 93.4, pp. 569-596, 2024 Typical burial - Chamber Tomb XX. With a figure-8 configuration it measured 4.40 meters north-south by 3.0 meters west-east. It held 29 individuals (12 adults) buried in four successive layers. The burials were dated to late 14th to the early 13th centuries BC. Grave goods included terracotta, faience, glass, gold, silver, bronze (including a cylinder seal), lead, amber, carnelian, turquoise, and ivory items. Many were imports. Fischer, Peter M., "Cultural fusion in late Bronze Age goldwork: diadems and mouth-pieces from Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus", Oxford Journal of Archaeology 45.2, pp. 151-179, 2026
History