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Exploiting a damaged and diminishing resource: survey, sampling and society at a Bronze Age cemetery complex in Cyprus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Jennifer M. Webb  and
David Frankel
Jennifer M. Webb
Affiliation:
*Archaeology Program, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia (Email: jenny.webb@latrobe.edu.au; d.frankel@latrobe.edu.au)
David Frankel
Affiliation:
*Archaeology Program, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia (Email: jenny.webb@latrobe.edu.au; d.frankel@latrobe.edu.au)
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Abstract

Is a cemetery that has been robbed and pillaged for generations worthy of systematic research? It certainly is, given the application of a well conceived and executed project design. The authors show that the precise investigation of tomb architecture and identification of residual pottery can allow the detailed mapping of funerary practice over large areas of space and periods of time. Here they develop a narrative of increasing population and funerary investment through the Bronze Age in central north Cyprus. And having recorded 1286 pillaged tombs they call attention to the value of what still remains and the dangers that such monuments still face. The fact that a cemetery has been damaged is no reason to sacrifice it to the bulldozer.

Keywords

CyprusBronze Agemortuary practiceburial riteproject designCRM
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 83 , Issue 319 , March 2009 , pp. 54 - 68
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2009

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