The New Swedish Cyprus Expedition 2015. Excavations at Hala Sultan Tekke. Preliminary results

Abstract

In 2015 the sixth season of the renewed excavations at the Bronze Age city of Hala Sultan Tekke continued in the compound which was ex­posed in Area 6W in 2013–2014. Further evidence of textile process­ing was found. The results of another ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey in 2014 indicated a new city quarter west of the former. Exca­vations were initiated there in 2015 and parts of the remains of a large compound were exposed. Two occupational phases, Strata 1 and 2, could be determined, both of which were destroyed in a conflagration. Further excavations were carried out in Area A, 550 m to the east of Area 6W and close to the mosque of Hala Sultan Tekke. In 2014 more than 80 circular anomalies were indicated by our geomagnetic survey supported by GPR. Twelve of them were excavated in 2015. Most of them turned out to be backfilled wells of which the fills mainly date from the 13th and 12th centuries BC (Late Cypriot IIC–IIIA). One of the excavated anomalies is interpreted as an offering pit. The preliminary date according to the pottery is roughly the 15th century BC (Late Cypriot IB).