Generally, the pithoi contained oil, water, seeds etc. They may have been exported for their own sake or as containers which were later on recycled for use as storage jars. I do not know if the pithoi from Iria were empty or if analyses could give us an idea of their contents. This does not exclude the possibility that the pithoi and jugs were still in use after that period. The absence both of Plain White Wheel-made II Ware and Bucchero Ware provides an argument against a Late Cypriote IIIA date, although fine Bucchero occurs earlier, eg. on the Kash shipwreck.
Waves caused by earthquakes tend to be very high near the beaches.
The writer was on board a ship outside Paphos on 10th September 1953, when an earthquake and subsequent tremors caused damage to the buildings on land and the huge ship was lifted up by the waves at sea. Visitors using other browsers, for example Netscape, may experience some difficulties on certain pages of this site. We are working to address these difficulties.