Une amphore et des marmites. Pratiques et gestes cultuels au palais d’Amathonte

During the excavations taking place in the storage area of the Palace of Amathus since 1977, fourteen foundation deposits (thirteen cooking pots and one amphora) have been discovered in several places of the building, deposited into the floor preparation or under the pavement. If it still lacks a reliable chrono-typology of cooking pots, which can be dated from a time ranging from CA to the end of CC, the Bichrome IV amphora and its sealing can be dated from the late CA I (around 620) : this date would be that of the construction of the archaic palace. The paper studies the material contained in these deposits, which were nearly all sealed by plaster : silty clay, lamps, small dishes, charcoal and animal bones (sometimes found in the cooking pots, but not always). In addition to the fine clay and charcoal fragments, the amphora contained the bones – but stripped from their flesh – of the left quarter of a sub-adult Bos Taurus and a lump of coating. Unique deposits both in number and nature in Cyprus, they are compared with similar practices of the antique Near-Eastern world. It could be propitiatory practices related to the construction of a building or to rebuilding works

Amphora · Ancient history · Antique · Archaeology · Art · Charcoal · Geography · Metallurgy · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Classical Antiquity Studies · History · Law, logistics, and international trade · Materials Science

• Le Palais d’Amathonte

  Open Access•Béatrice Blandin, Thierry Petit et al.•Dialogues d histoire ancienne•2015

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