The Lefkaritis Tomb is a

hypogeum A hypogeum or hypogaeum ( ; plural hypogea or hypogaea; literally meaning "underground") is an underground temple or tomb. Hypogea will often contain niches for cremated human remains or loculi for buried remains. Occasionally tombs of th ...

—a type of tomb—in

Larnaca Larnaca, also spelled Larnaka, is a city on the southeast coast of Cyprus and the capital of the Larnaca District, district of the same name. With a district population of 155.000 in 2021, it is the third largest city in the country after Nicosi ...

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. It was discovered in 1998 in an "un-looted chamber that had been sealed nearly 2800 years ago" in the city-kingdom of Kition. (This tomb was found within the

city wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or Earthworks (military), earthworks to extensive military fortifications such as ...

s of

Kition Kition (Ancient Greek: , ; Latin: ; Egyptian: ; Phoenician: , , or , ;) was an ancient Phoenician and Greek city-kingdom on the southern coast of Cyprus (in present-day Larnaca), one of the Ten city-kingdoms of Cyprus. Name The name of the ...

, as opposed to the

necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

on the outside.) To create a final report on the

archaeological excavation In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

s of "two important built tombs, namely the Ikarou Street Tomb and the Lefkaritis Tomb" were the primary reasons for the authoring of ''The Phoenician Period Necropolis of Kition'' Volume II. (The author participated in the excavations.)

Excavation

The street address where the tomb was unearthed, is Vasileos Konstantinou 27. Among the "few objects found", were "Extraordinary gold ornaments", which were moved to

Cyprus Museum The Cyprus Museum (also known as the Cyprus Archaeological Museum) is the oldest and largest archaeological museum in Cyprus, located on Museum Street in central Nicosia. The museum is home to the most extensive collection of Cypriot antiquities ...

for conservation.

Name

The tomb was discovered in the vicinity of the residence of Dino Lefkaritis (a known businessman in the

petroleum industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry, includes the global processes of hydrocarbon exploration, exploration, extraction of petroleum, extraction, oil refinery, refining, Petroleum transport, transportation (often by oil tankers ...

), hence the name ''Lefkaritis Tomb''.

References

External links

* Tombs in Cyprus Buildings and structures completed in the 8th century BC Archaeological sites in Cyprus Phoenician funerary practices 1998 archaeological discoveries {{Cyprus-struct-stub