Toms of North Cyprus

Toms of North Cyprus, usefull information of Northern Cyprus

At its simplest a tomb might just consist of a small pit; by contrast at Vasilia, (Turkish, Karsiyaka) on the north coast at the foot of Mt Kornos, the most westerly peak of the North Cyprus Kyrenia range, the cemetery was both large and very grarid. It is no longer on public display, having been excavated in 1955. The entrance shafts to the tombs were long and plastered, the entrance chambers flanked by rebated pillars on either side, and there were niches for many subsequent burials opening off on every side of the central chamber. Another, probably the most common, type of tomb had a simple short shaft cut through the rock, an entrance which could be blocked by a stone, and beyond would be a small chamber for one or possibly two bodies and their grave goods. The ordering of bodies changed with time, in the beginning they were laid out in a crouched position, with their heads towards the door. Later they were propped up against the walls, but when the deceased were no longer remembered they would be pushed aside to make way for new generations. Towards the end of the period there seems to have been a tendency to venerate the ancestors; when that happened it might be that the tomb was a family one. Yet even if luggage and food was provided for their next journey, the living did not intend that the spirits should be free to roam in this world; the carefully blocked doorways saw to that. Constantly in Cyprus one becomes aware of the ancient undertaker's craft and his skills as a builder. In many of the later periods elaborate tombs and the ceremonies surrounding them which we can perceive but dimly loom very large in the archaeological narrative. In the Early Bronze Age when so few houses for the living are known, the work they did for the dead helps to compensate for our lack of other information.

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