Stylloi Explained

Settlement Type:village
Stylloi
Official Name:Στύλλοι (Greek) Mutluyaka (Turkish)
Pushpin Map:Cyprus
Pushpin Label Position:bottom
Pushpin Mapsize:300
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Cyprus
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name: Cyprus
Subdivision Type1: • District
Subdivision Name1:Famagusta District
Subdivision Type2:Country
Subdivision Type3: • District
Subdivision Name3:Gazimağusa District
Unit Pref:Imperial
Timezone:EET
Utc Offset:+2
Timezone Dst:EEST
Utc Offset Dst:+3
Coordinates:35.1714°N 33.8336°W

Stylloi (Στύλλοι, Turkish: Mutluyaka) is a village in the Famagusta District of Cyprus, located 12 km northwest of Famagusta. It is under the de facto control of Northern Cyprus.

Archaeological Excavations

Close to the modern village of Stylloi the Swedish Cyprus Expedition, led by Einar Gjerstad, excavated a necropolis. The site was known before and Mr. Rubert Gunnis, inspector of Antiquities in Cyprus, excavated here in 1928. The Swedish excavations commenced at the highest part of the terrace and thereafter continued on the southern slope. During this excavation, the Crown Prince of Sweden, Gustaf VI Adolf visited the site and excavated himself.[1] The tombs on the plateau, where the ground mainly consists of the local chavara, have all spacious dromoi and are from a typical point of view rather different from the ones on the southern slope. The former is long with a more or less regularly sloping floor, in some cases stairs are preserved. The latter are much shorter and widen much more abruptly. Their floor is horizontal. Both types have irregular chambers that usually are smaller than the big dromos. The burial customs are the same in all tombs. The buried were found outstretched on their back, surrounded by burial gifts. Coffins were not used. The burial place was used from Cypro-Geometric IIIA until Cypro-Archaic IIA. During the Cypro-Geometric period until Cypro-Archaic I the burials were made at the plateau. In the following periods, these tombs were reused at the same time as the southern slope became more popular.

Notes and References

  1. Book: Gjerstad, Einar . The Swedish Cyprus Expedition Publications Finds and Results of the Excavations in Cyprus 1927-1931, Vol. II. Text. . Victor Pettersons Bokindustriaktiebolag . 1935 . Stockholm . 2–4, 138–141, 625, 179–180, 626–628, 643, 820–24.