A study published in March detailed the incredible discovery of once-lost tombs by a team of archaeologists working for Great Britain’s Ministry of Defense.
The small team from the University of Leicester Archaeological Service recently completed a “walkover survey” of visible archaeological remains at the Eastern Sovereign Base Area at Dhekelia (ESBA) on the southern coast of Cyprus, according to Phys.org. Some 51 archaeological sites were discovered across a 12-mile area, some of them dating back to the Bronze Age (3,300 B.C. to 1,200 B.C.).
“A single tomb or wall footing might be a ‘site’ if no other evidence can be found in the vicinity and the feature is convincing,” researcher Matt Beamish told Newsweek of the survey. “Similarly, a building, or a multitude of tombs in a cemetery covering a hectare or more would also constitute a site.”
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Our heritage, our antiquities but considered M.O.D’s overseas estate.“….vital for helping to protect the historic environment across the Ministry of Defence’s UK and overseas estate.”https://t.co/FZlDGscIlb
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Many of the sites on the island had been uncovered before, but were lost due to inadequate mapping, Beamish noted. “There were undoubtedly problems with some of the archive information which was incomplete and had been inaccurately redrawn at some stage in the past. Some sites had clearly been lost to the subsequent development of roads and buildings,” he continued.
One of those sites is an “extensive” cemetery, believed to hold dozens of tombs cut into the rock and limestone caves with ESBA. (RELATED: Construction Workers Unearth 9,000-Year-Old Artifacts That May Change Brazil’s History)
Further research is required to ascertain the extent of the archaeological sites on the island. A deeper analysis of the tomb structures is also required. It is hoped the study will set a tone for future archaeological discoveries uncovered during construction projects.