Bronze Age · 14th century BC · Hala Sultan Tekke, Larnaca District, Cyprus
Bronze Age chamber tombs with Baltic amber and Afghan lapis found in Cyprus
Two 14th-century BC tombs at the copper port of Hala Sultan Tekke were reused for generations and held imports from Egypt, the Aegean, Sardinia, India and the Baltic.
Official announcement
Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus Archaeologists have found two chamber tombs from around the 14th century BC in the cemetery outside Hala Sultan Tekke. The site was a Late Bronze Age harbour city on the southern coast of Cyprus. The tombs held goods imported from the Greek mainland, Crete, Egypt, Sardinia, Afghanistan, India and the Baltic.
The Department of Antiquities of Cyprus announced the results of the May and June 2025 season. Professor Peter M. Fischer of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden led the work.
The city, also known as Dromolaxia-Vyzakia, lies near Larnaca and covered at least 25 hectares. According to the department, it was established around 1650/30 BC, at the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age. It prospered for nearly five centuries. It was then destroyed and abandoned around 1150 BC.
Its wealth came from copper. Raw materials from the Troodos Mountains were processed in the city and shipped from its well-protected harbour. Excavations across the settlement have found slag heaps, ore, furnaces and crucibles. The department says traders from across the Mediterranean were drawn to the port, particularly from the mid-15th to the end of the 13th century BC.
The 2025 work concentrated on Area A, an extra-urban cemetery outside the city. The team placed its trenches on the basis of earlier geophysical surveys and surface finds. It found structures damaged by erosion and farming, a long-abandoned well and the two tombs.
A modern borehole next to the well showed highly saline groundwater about 10 metres below the surface. The department says this probably contributed to the well being abandoned in antiquity.
Collapsed roofs sealed the tombs
The roofs of both tombs fell in during ancient times. The collapse damaged some objects, but it sealed the chambers and protected their contents.
The layers inside show that the tombs were reused over several generations, often for more than a century. Earlier remains were frequently moved aside with care to make room for new burials. The department reads this deliberate reuse as a sign of strong family continuity and kinship ties.
Pottery was left in successive layers, so the tombs also give the team a sequence. The team expects this sequence will help refine the dating of the site.
Imports from Greece to the Baltic
The tombs contained finely made local pottery, tools and personal ornaments. They also held a wide range of imports. Luxury pottery came from the Greek mainland, mostly from Berbati and Tiryns, and from Crete and other Aegean islands. Egypt supplied ivory objects and vessels of high-quality calcite, often called alabaster.
Deep-blue lapis lazuli came from the Sar-i Sang mine in Afghanistan. Reddish-brown carnelian came from Gujarat in India. There was also Baltic amber: some of it was shaped into beads, and one piece was carved as a scarab. The department says these items probably reached Cyprus through intermediaries such as the Mycenaeans, Egyptians and Mesopotamians.
The tombs also held pottery from the Nuragic culture of Sardinia. This matches earlier evidence that Cypriot copper reached Sardinia as oxhide ingots. These are flat slabs of metal whose outline resembles a stretched animal hide.
Who was buried in the tombs
Bioarchaeologists Professor Kirsi Lorentz and Dr Yuko Miyauchi of The Cyprus Institute excavated and recorded the human remains. Preliminary results show people of all ages, from newborns to adults, but rarely anyone over 40. The department says this reflects a low average life expectancy, consistent with the period.
Ancient DNA analysis is under way. It will examine kinship among those buried together. It will also look at the demography, health and way of life of the city's population.
The team interprets the tombs as belonging to elite families engaged in copper export and international trade. Archaeology Magazine summarised a report by Kathimerini Cyprus. According to that summary, Fischer said the tombs had been reused for generations before they collapsed.
The department adds that specific tombs show a preference for particular foreign goods. This may point to specialised trade roles or to migrant communities living in the city.
Dr Rainer Feldbacher and members of the Swedish mission assisted with the excavation. Professor Teresa Bürge processed artefacts from this and earlier seasons in the storerooms of the Archaeological Museum of Larnaka District. Professor Sorin Hermon and his team from The Cyprus Institute carried out 2D and 3D documentation and material analysis. Analysis of the human remains, including ancient DNA, is continuing.
Sources
- Elite Late Bronze Age tombs at Hala Sultan Tekke reveal Cyprus’s vast ancient trade network (Archaeology News)
- Bronze Age Tombs Containing Luxury Goods Unearthed in Cyprus (Archaeology Magazine)
- Excavations at the extraurban cemetery of Dromolaxia-Vyzakia (Archaeology Wiki)
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