"We established that there was a population exodus from Salamis, which was completely abandoned shortly after 1200 B.C. ... They must first have gone to Enkomi on Cyprus, which was already an established center." Salamis was founded around 1100 B.C., when Enkomi -- some 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) away -- was abandoned. "It was probably the refugees' children that moved there," Lolos said. The emigration theory would explain why almost no high-value artifacts were found at the Greek site, which bore no signs of destruction or enemy occupation. "The emigrants, who would have been the city's ruling class, took a lot with them, including nearly all the valuables," Lolos said. The rest of the population moved to a new settlement further inland that offered better protection from seaborne raids... Finds include pottery, stone tools, a sealstone and copper implements. Lolos is particularly pleased with a piece of a copper mail shirt stamped with the name of Pharaoh Ramses II, who ruled Egypt from 1279-1213 B.C."This is a unique find, which may have belonged to a Mycenaean mercenary soldier serving with the Egyptians," he said. "It could have been a souvenir, a mark of honor or even some kind of a medal."
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The Dark Age of Greece
Immanuel Velikovsky