IN A development which could attract archaeological tourists, workers in Cyprus have unearthed four rare clay coffins estimated to be 2,000 years old.
Maria Hadjicosti of the country’s Antiquities Department said the coffins, adorned with floral patterns, date from the east Mediterranean island’s Hellenistic to early Roman periods, between 300 BC and 100 AD.
The coffins were dug up from what is believed to be an ancient cemetery in the eastern coastal resort of Protaras.
Hadjicosti said similar coffins dating from the same period have been discovered and two are on display in the capital’s Archaeological Museum but she called the latest find significant because the coffins were untouched by grave robbers.
The official said the cemetery is one of several found throughout the island’s northeast, but scientists don’t know which undiscovered settlement the bodies came from.
Excavations on Cyprus have uncovered settlements dating back to around 9,000 BC, Cyprus then saw successive waves of colonisation, including Phoenicians, Mycenaean Greeks, Romans and, in the Middle Ages, Franks and Venetians. The island was conquered by Ottoman Turks in 1571 and became part of the British Empire in 1878 before winning independence in 1960.