Excavating at Salamis in Cyprus, 1952–1974

Underneath the inner mound of tumulus 77 at Salamis, Karageorghis found a circular pyre with remnants of clay faces (seen here) and burnt wood. Karageoghis believes that inner mound once held clay effigies on wooden poles and that tumulus 77 was built in 311 B.C.E. for a memorial ceremony for Nicocreon, king of Salamis. Similarly, Gabriel Barkay believes the mounds west of Jerusalem served as the sites of memorial observances for the earlier kings of Judah. These ceremonies are alluded to in the Bible; the prophet Jeremiah says of one king, “They will burn fire for you in your memory, and lament ‘Alas master’” (Jeremiah 34:5).