In 2018 the remains of a Phoenician temple were found in the Karpas region, located just to the south of Thalassa Beach Resort.
ARCHAEOLOGISTS found the remains of an open-air Phoenician temple, believed to be more than 3,000 years old. The exciting discovery was made during excavation work started in November 2017 in an area known as the “Valia Forest”, between Kalecik and Bafra.
It was decided, by the North Cyprus Antiquities Departments, to excavate the site after noticeable signs of “upper surfaces of a series of megalithic rocks which resembled cubes”.
After two months of painstaking digging they had uncovered a “detached internal wall” with a “podium inside it” and that a “white gypsum-based surface”, 20cm thick, was also revealed.
Archaeologists discovered a “roughly cubeshaped stone”, which is said to be an altar stone placed on a gypsum-cast surface in the centre of the temple, which dated back to the 15th or 16th centuries BC. It appears that the ‘sacred’ site was 11m-by-6m in size with its ends pointing east to west. It was situated in an area said to be the “lost city of Knidos”, although no “accurate information was found”.
Their assumptions are based on an inscription on a gravestone located 10km northeast of the excavation zone, which gives the name of Symmachos, captain of a “trireme” — an ancient Greek or Roman war galley — “from Knidos” and references to Astarte, a Phoenician goddess of love.
Artifacts recovered from the temple ruins included terracotta items, a near-30cm-high censer, plus bowls, perfume bottles, urns, beads and a loom weight.
The Antiquities Department said the temple had been named the “Kodur Open-Air Temple” after a nearby headland, and predicted that it would be of “major value for tourism” due to its proximity to the Bafra resort, as well as contributing to research on the Phoenician era.
If you would like to visit this site, please speak to our on-site Tavor Management team who will be glad to help!
Source : Cyprus Today, 2018