Broken fortress discovered under 'mega-monument' burial mound in Cyprus
Archaeologists excavating an enormous ancient burial mound in Cyprus have uncovered an even older structure hidden beneath it: a rampart, or part of a defensive wall, according to a statement from the Department of Antiquities Cyprus.
The large mound, known as the tumulus of Laona, is longer than a football field, or 328 feet long by 196 feet wide (100 by 60 meters) (opens in new tab) and was likely built around the third century B.C., when the successors of Alexander the Great were fighting for control of Cyprus and large swaths of the empire. Researchers have been gradually excavating and digitally documenting the tumulus over the past decade. But in a new finding, archaeologists learned that the tumulus was erected on top of a broken rampart that is even older than the mound, dating to the early fifth century B.C.
Ancient people on Cyprus buried the fortress wall under about 484,000 cubic feet (13,700 cubic meters) of loose soil with sand, silt or clay, known as marl, and red soil, which had been transported from elsewhere on Cyprus for the construction of the tumulus. The Laona fortress was, therefore, well preserved under the tumulus; its northeast corner survives to a height of 20 feet (6 m), making it one of the most significant monuments of the "Age of the Cypriot Kingdoms" ...
The tumulus is located 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) northeast of the Sanctuary of Aphrodite, an ancient site dating to the 12th century B.C. "The mound/tumulus was always visible, but the locals considered it a natural hillock," Giorgos Papantoniou, an assistant professor of ancient visual and material culture at Trinity College Dublin, who was not involved in the excavation. "Its geological identification as an artificial mound was confirmed in 2011." ...
