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Excavation officers: Prof. Laerke Recht, Dr. Katarzyna Zeman-Wisniewska and Dr. Lorenzo Mazzotta
The Department of Antiquities of the State Ministry of Culture announces the end of the 2023 excavation period at the site of Erimi -Pitharka, conducted under the direction of Prof. Laerke Recht (University of Graz, Austria), Dr. Katarzyna Zeman-Wisniewska (Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University, Warsaw, Poland) and Dr. Lorenzo Mazzotta (University of Salento, Lecce, Italy), with the support of a team of students and experts from Austria, USA, Poland and Cyprus. This year's team consisted of nine members under the supervision of Prof. L. Recht. The excavation lasted from 24 April to 26 May 2023.
The excavation focused on the northern part of Area 1A, continuing the excavations started in 2022 and extending to new ones in order to reveal the architectural remains (blocks 1109, 1110, 1111, 1209). The site consists of a building complex of rooms connected by exterior spaces and a large exterior space to the north and east of the sections. To the south, the walls join the test cuts previously made by the Department of Antiquities to reveal new structures. These appear to extend to the west, beneath the modern road network.
Sections 4 and 7 were further investigated (at 6 x 4 m), a new section (no. 8) was cut to the west (at 6 x 4 m) and three smaller sections to the south (at 1 x 4 m) to investigate structures close to the modern foundations present on the site.
In section 4, the excavation of Room 101 continued at a deeper level than originally estimated, as the walls survive to a height approaching one metre. Among the upper layers of the room, consisting of collapse material (stones and bricks), the neck and rim of a pith was identified. In the northernmost part of the lower layers a thick layer of ash associated with a brick structure and an overturned stone with a carved playing surface was identified, which bore evidence of lime mortar on its surface. Beneath these, a highly preserved and carefully constructed lime mortar floor was found in the southern part of the room.
Room 101 is joined to a number of other rooms to the west by an entrance to the north-west leading to a corridor. This entrance was sealed at a later stage and the corridor was considerably reduced in width by a wall constructed parallel to it. The rooms to the west include R104, R105, R106 and R107. There is much disturbance and collapse of the walls, but those that survive in good condition are quite wide (60-80 cm), reach up to 1.50 m high and are carefully constructed. In the later phase, rooms R106 and R107 had been remodelled and converted into the smaller space of room R102 and the larger space of room R103. An external space with evidence of collapse was identified to the north of the cluster of rooms.
The pottery identified during this year's survey consisted mainly of pithos, White Unsmelted pottery, coarse ware, Wheeled White Writing pottery, Ringed base pottery and White painted pottery. The imports are limited to sherds from a Minoan trade amphora and a nearly intact Canaanite trade amphora with a sealed surface on the handle. The finds support the main dating of the site to Late Cypriot IIC with some evidence of use from YKIIB to YKIIA.
Among the important finds of this year's excavation period are a nearly intact tripod compass of White Acobean pottery, several stones with carved surfaces/toys (one of which is large in size), rubbings, a copper alloy blade deliberately folded and a carved ring of bitterstone.
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