Ancient Cypriot inscription found on recycled stone

This season’s excavation of the ancient site of Kouklia-Martsello in Palaepaphos, western Cyprus, has unearthed a rare fragmentary inscription in the Cypriot syllabary. It was carved onto a stone that was later reused in construction of a wall during the Cypro-Archaic period between 750 and 480 B.C. The syllabary, which is believed to be a descendant of the Minoan Linear A writing system, was active from the 11th to the 4th centuries B.C., after which it fell into disuse and was replaced by the Greek alphabet.

Founded in the Late Bronze Age before the arrival of the Achaeans from Peloponnesian Greece, Palaepaphos was associated with a sanctuary for the local Great Goddess, a fertility deity whose worship on Cyprus dates back to the Chalcolithic period (3900-2500 B.C.). When the Greeks (Achaeans in 1200 B.C., followed by Dorian Greeks in 1100 B.C.) colonized the island, they adopted the local goddess worship, eventually converting it to a cult of Aphrodite. Palaepaphos flourished as an urban center and religious sanctuary, growing into the largest city in western Cyprus from the Geometric Period (900 B.C.) through the end of the 4th century B.C. The worship of the goddess at Palaepaphos ceased when Christianity muscled out all competition in the 4th century, and the city declined.

It returned to some regional prominence in the Middle Ages and today the village of Kouklia stands at the ancient site. The archaeological remains of Palaepaphos received attention from looters as early as the 16th century, but archaeologists didn’t start systematic excavations of the site until 1950.

This year marks the fourth excavation at the site funded by the Department of History and Archeology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (EKPA) and carried out by a team of undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral students under the leadership of the university’s Professor of Aarcheology Constantinos Kopanias. The team’s mission this year was to continue to investigate a memorial wall more than 550 feet long that was first brought to light in previous excavations in the 20th century.

The wall was built in several phases, with the earliest construction beginning in the Late Cypriot III period (13th century B.C.), but the timeline is complex and unclear. The 2024 excavation aimed to clarify the dates of individual construction phases, with particular emphasis on a tunnel that crosses under the wall at a depth of about 7.5 feet. The excavation of the tunnel revealed more information about the stratigraphy, confirming that the wall was repaired in the Cypriot Archaic and the Cypriot Classic periods. The tunnels’ purpose is still a mystery.

This year’s excavation also investigated a structure just north of the wall that faces the sea. It is shaped like an uppercase pi (Π) and was previously believed to have been part of the defensive fortifications of the site, probably a tower from which defenders could monitor any approaching ships. The excavation discovered that this hypothesis was incorrect, that the structure was not connected to the wall at all, and was more likely to have had a cultic function.

The currently available excavation data indicate that it was founded in a layer from the Late Cypriot III period (12th-11th century BC), fell into disuse during the Cypro-Geometric period, and was later repaired during the Cypro-Archaic period (6th century BC). In 2023, depictions of two engraved ships were found on the outer side of this enigmatic structure, resembling similar depictions of boats at Kition. In 2024, another depiction of a ship was discovered, though it remained unfinished.

* This article was originally published here