Published by the Swedish Institute at Athens. Distributed by Astrom Editions.

Swedish excavations at Sinda, Cyprus. Excavations conducted by Arne Furumark 1947–1948

Arne Furumark & Charles M. Adelman, with contributions by Paul Åström, Nils-Gustaf Gejwall & Hans Henning von der Osten

When Arne Furumark was entrusted with writing the Late Bronze Age summary volume for the Swedish Cyprus Expedition, he realized that a habitation site was needed in order to clarify problems associated with the last phases of that period. As neither the French nor the Cypriot excavations at Enkomi had yet been published he decided to find his own site: he scouted several, but settled on Sinda because recent illicit digging there had thrown up sherds of a sort never before seen on the island, namely Mycenaean IIIC1b. He conducted two short excavation seasons but the control excavation he planned was aborted when he received notice from Cypriote authorities that there was large scale destruction of the site.

Although there is evidence of earlier and later habitation at Sinda, the most important is the Late Bronze Age fortified town (probably built along the copper trading route), with its three phases: Sinda I, II and III. Sinda I, which saw the building of the defense system and had material culture including local Cypriot wares as well as examples of Mycenaean IIIB, suffered major destruction. Sinda II followed: structures were repaired and built, and were accompanied by a rich material culture including Mycenaean IIIC1a and great quantities of locally produced, early IIIC1b materials. A second catastrophe brought an end to that town. Sinda III followed, a poorer town, but with examples of locally produced, developed IIIC1b wares of the Close Style.

Furumark’s interpretation that the two destructions were brought about first by Greek settlers and then by Sea Peoples has been challenged by more recent archaeological evidence which lowers the date of Mycenaean IIIB. Paul Åström, in his summary suggests a reasonable alternative, that pirates and adventurers (Mycenaean and groups from other areas) were responsible for the destructions.

Contents

Foreword by Paul Åström
Preface by Charles M. Adelman
Acknowledgements
Furumark’s introduction to the 1951 report and letters from Cyprus
Abbreviations and key to synoptic tables
Bibliography
Index to illustrations
List of synoptic tables
Part I: the excavation
Part II: epilogue by Charles M. Adelman
Part III: Find catalogues
Part IV: Find statistics and illustrations
Appendix. Summary of occurrences of wares by area and strata from original sherd counts
Plates of finds
Plans

Bibliographical information

Arne Furumark & Charles M. Adelman, Swedish excavations at Sinda, Cyprus. Swedish excavations at Sinda, Cyprus. Excavations conducted by Arne Furumark 1947–1948 (ActaAth-4°, 50), Stockholm 2003. ISSN 0586-0539. ISBN 978-91-7916-046-3.

Reviews

American Journal of Archaeology 110:1, 2006 (Jennifer M. Webb).

Gnomon 78:4, 2006, 333-336 (Hans-Günther Buchholz).

Revue Archéologique 2004:2, 421-422 (Cl. Baurain).