The Mnemata Site is an
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 ...
site at the
Mnemata locality of
Larnaca
Larnaca ( el, Λάρνακα ; tr, Larnaka) is a city on the south east coast of Cyprus and the capital of the district of the same name. It is the third-largest city in the country, after Nicosia and Limassol, with a metro population of 144 ...
,
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
. A
tomb
A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a :wikt:repository, repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be ...
was discovered in 1979—during the construction of a refugee settlement.
Built over the excavation site is now a supermarket.
The site is located on the
city block
A city block, residential block, urban block, or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design.
A city block is the smallest group of buildings that is surrounded by streets, not counting any type of thoroughfare within t ...
east of the junction of
Plateia Mitropoleos and
Nikodimou Mylona Street.
The site has been referred to as Agios Georgios cemetery, in various interim reports. (There are other institutions in the same city that are known as
Agios Georgios. One is the
Agios Georgios refugee settlement—the other is the
cemetery on Agiou Georgiou Kontou Street.
(An "Ancient Kition" text on a
roadsign
Traffic signs or road signs are signs erected at the side of or above roads to give instructions or provide information to road users. The earliest signs were simple wooden or stone milestones. Later, signs with directional arms were introduce ...
, points toward the cemetery on Agiou Georgiou Kontou Street.)
Other archaeological sites in its vicinity include the
Pervolia Site, located north-east of Mnemata.
Name
''Mnemata'' is the name of the locality, and it means "
grave
A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as grave ...
s".
The Mnemata Site is also known as the Agios Georgios cemetery, because a tomb was found in 1979 during the construction of a refugee settlement called
''Agios Georgios''. Other tombs were found on site, later.
History
During the construction of
Agios Georgios (refugee settlement), a tomb was discovered on March 22, 1979. In 1979, 63 tombs were excavated there.
In 1989 Michael Heltzer said that the Ayious Georghios-Mnimata site had an unexcavated southern part that lies 700 meters northwest of Kition's city wall, and 1500 meters northwest of the
seashore. "The site had been used as a cemetery from the beginning of the Iron Age until the Roman times", and there were four cemeteries in its environs in 1989.
References
{{reflist
Archaeological sites in Cyprus
Larnaca