ANTIQUITIES of great value are reportedly buried in the Kourris Valley area of the Limassol district, and have been systematically plundered by tomb raiders and illicit antiquities traders over the last century, locals living in the area have warned.
The Antiquities Department has confirmed that there is a tomb raiding problem in the area, but say it is part of a wider phenomenon in an island abundant with ancient treasures.
“The illegal antiquities trade is a problem in Cyprus, even in the non-occupied part,” said Pavlos Flourentzos, Antiquities Department Director.
“However, there are antiquities buried in the ground almost everywhere in Cyprus. Therefore, tomb raiding and illegal antiquities trading is a problem in many other areas, not just in the Kourris Valley. When citizens break the law and steal, it is a matter for the police and I think they have been doing a good job,” Flourantzos added.
Residents of Monagri, Doros, Sylikou and Ayios Georgios villages, part of the Kourris Valley complex, say antiquities theft has been common practice in the area since the 20th century. Dozens of ancient tombs have been plundered by tomb-raiders, who have stolen hundreds of valuable items, including gold jewellery, ancient coins and ceramic jars.
Many ancient ceramic items have been reportedly destroyed by locals who considered them worthless. “In Sylikou about 50-60 years ago they believed ceramic items were worthless. There were times that they found enough jars in a cave to fill up a car, but they would destroy them as they were looking for coins or gold,” said Nicolas Georgiou, Monagri village resident.
Despite the high demand for such findings with illicit traders, the Antiquities Department does not consider the area’s antiquities to be valuable enough for an excavation to take place. “We decide where to conduct excavations based on how important we consider the antiquities in the area. We excavate entire ancient towns, not individual tombs,” Florentzos explained.
The Department did excavate important antiquities before the construction of the Kourris Dam in the area, in order to save them from obliteration. “We made numerous excavations in the area where the Kourris dam would be built and extracted numerous items, mainly jars, tombs as well as mosaics from the Roman and Early Christian periods,” he said.
Flourentzos published two volumes detailing the findings of the Kourris dam area excavations, titled Excavations In The Kourris Valley; the first volume is dedicated to findings from tombs, while the second deals with the excavations from the basilica of Alassa.
