Alison South CAARI lecture

Voices from the Grave: a Late Bronze Age Population from Kalavasos and their Tombs
Excavations (1979-98) within the large Late Bronze Age (LC IIA-C) settlement of Kalavasos- Ayios Dhimitrios revealed 21 chamber tombs, in varying states of preservation. Many of them contained prolific material of Cypriot and imported types, with prestige items including gold and silver jewellery, bronze vessels, ivory toilet boxes, glass and faience, games, seals and fine stone objects. Food offerings included the meat of various animals, birds and fish, and eggs. The people who used the tombs can be studied through their skeletal remains, not particularly well preserved but able to reveal much information about their ages, sexes and health. Analysis of the types and quantities of grave goods and their relationship with the deceased enables us to make some progress towards understanding the burial customs. There are some definite examples of secondary burial. Infants and children are well represented, and both may be provided with their own grave goods. In the North-East Area, a series of rich tombs located around the large ashlar administrative centre (Building X) can be related to the phases of the architecture and show a varied history, some intact and undisturbed, others definitely looted, others apparently carefully cleaned out as part of a program of burial and re-burial.
The lecture discusses these aspects and more, and attempts to show how this evidence contributes to better understanding of the lives and deaths of these Bronze Age Cypriots.