Cyrene Papers: The Final Report. Richard Norton’s Exploration of the Northern Necropolis of Cyrene (24 October 1910 – 4 May 1911): From Archives to Archaeological Contexts

The rock-cut tombs of Cyrene’s Northern Necropolis have survived to the present day in a pitifully ruinous state because of the looting that has taken place since antiquity and because of their frequent reuse as dwellings or stables. An important archive of typewritten reports, photographs, sketches, and correspondence pertaining to this necropolis is preserved principally in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and documents the first officially-sanctioned archaeological excavation at Cyrene. This was conducted by an American archaeological mission lead by Richard Norton from October 1910 to the end of April 1911 and was jointly sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The documents, particularly those that chronicle the excavation of 4 tombs and their associated finds, represent an important resource for our understanding of the history of the exploration of this necropolis. They not only offer information on individual monuments, but they also illustrate the typological range of artifacts selected for funerary ritual from the late Classical period into the 2nd century AD, but principally during the Hellenistic period. Additionally, the documents reveal particular funerary practices, such as the successive re-use of tombs that took place at least from the late Hellenistic period onwards.