Episkopi-Bamboula

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Episkopi-Bamboula , often simply called Bamboula , is an archaeological site in Cyprus that was last excavated by Gisela Walberg from the University of Cincinnati . Bamboula is on the south coast of the island between the mouth of the Kouris , which was the only permanent water-bearing river in the Bronze Age , and the village of Episkopi on a hill about 14 m high. Within a few kilometers there are other sites from the epochs between the Chalcolithic and the Zyproarchaic times. The recent excavations of Walberg brought clarity about the developments in the Late Bronze Age IA, i.e. the time the city was built. Bamboula existed from about 1600/1500 BC. Until the end of the Bronze Age.

The first excavation was carried out under the direction of John Franklin Daniel in 1937 and 1948, who however died in 1948. Saul S. Weinberg and Jack Leonard Benson carried out further excavations in 1951 and 1954 and published the results of their predecessor. A settlement with graves on its edge was uncovered.

The majority of the finds came from the 13th century and the beginning of the 12th century. Ashlar masonry and a column indicate monumental architecture. A city gate and a 90 m section of the city wall were also discovered. Houses with several rooms, workshops and a street emerged, a wall from the 14th century with towers, some undisturbed graves were excavated.

Bamboula apparently had contacts to Egypt , the Levant and Mycenaean Greece . Daniel found fragments that belonged to the "Window Crater", a vessel that was in the British Museum . This was to 1400-1350 BC. And is now in the Cyprus Museum . Numerous fragments of Pithoi show that extensive reserves were created. Finds of luxury goods from the necropolis , such as objects made of gold, ivory , lead and alabaster, point to a ruling class and a stratified society. Seven cylinder seals and the use of the Cypriot script indicate a kind of administration . Overall, the findings are similar to those of Enkomi . The relationship to the Alassa , which is located upstream, is still unclear .

To a small extent, metal was processed in the settlement, such as saws, needles and spearheads, which were apparently made on site.

At the end of the Late Bronze Age IIIA (1200–1100 BC), Area A's homes were destroyed at the end of Layer D. Houses AV and A.VI in Stratum E were rebuilt using the same pattern, leveling the rubble from the destroyed houses. The walls were built directly on the walls of the destroyed house. It was these houses that built partition walls in the street space using wooden posts and rocks and thus enlarged. Towards the end of Stratum D, the houses in Zone A were destroyed, but also rebuilt in the same place. Location Area A: 34 ° 40 ′ 23 ″  N , 32 ° 54 ′ 38.3 ″  E

Area E generally has larger houses built in blocks separated from the streets, while Area A is more organic. A corresponding planning concept with consciously differentiated zones could be behind this. Location Area E: 34 ° 40 '25.3 "  N , 32 ° 54' 31.7"  O

The Penn Museum today houses over 600 objects from Bamboula, most of them from the necropolis, from over 30 graves. In most cases it is ceramic fragments, but also terracotta lamps, ivory pieces, glass beads, spindle whorls , loom weights, seals , gold jewelry and a silver ring. There are also about 30 exhibits from grave 4, which is located about 300 m south of Area E and dates from the first half of the 5th century BC. BC.

literature

  • Saul Vineyard: Bamboula at Kourion. The Architecture , University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology, 1983.
  • Jack Leonard Benson: Bamboula at Kourion. The Stratification of the Settlement , in: Report of the Department of Antiquities (1970) 1-28.
  • Jack Leonard Benson: Bamboula at Kourion. Supplementary Remarks on Stratification , in: Report of the Department of Antiquities (1972) 25-74.
  • Jack Leonard Benson: Bamboula at Kourion. The Necropolis and the Finds , Berggren, Philadelphia 1993.
  • Kristopher Mark Armstrong: Settlement Hierarchy and the Location of Alashiya on Cyprus , thesis, University of Ottawa, 2000, pp. 31-33. ( online )

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Weinberg 1983: 9-26.
  2. ↑ Kevin D. Fisher: Making the First Cities on Cyprus: Urbanism and Social Change in the Late Bronze Age , in: Andrew T. Creekmore, III, Kevin D. Fisher: Making Ancient Cities. Space and Place in Early Urban Societies , Cambridge University Press, 2014, pp. 181–219, here: pp. 207, 209.
  3. ↑ Kevin D. Fisher: Making the First Cities on Cyprus: Urbanism and Social Change in the Late Bronze Age , in: Andrew T. Creekmore, III, Kevin D. Fisher: Making Ancient Cities. Space and Place in Early Urban Societies , Cambridge University Press, 2014, pp. 181–219, here: p. 204.