A 3,400-Year-Old Cyprus Jug Held Burned Barley, Figs, Lentils and Flowers That Mourners May Have Left in a Tomb

Archaeologists studying burned plant remains from the Bronze Age city of Hala Sultan Tekke on Cyprus found a jug packed with charred crops and wild flowers. Researchers led by Teresa Bürge suggest that mourners may have burned bouquets and plant offerings during burial ceremonies about 3,400 years ago.

A jug full of crops and flowers

Hala Sultan Tekke was a major harbor city on the southeastern coast of Cyprus. The team examined plant remains from four tombs, a well and an earlier excavation inside the settlement.

Tomb SS held two ceramic jugs with charred plant remains. One jug contained what the researchers call an unusually diverse collection of cultivated crops and wild plants. The team identified barley, several wheat varieties, figs, lentils, field marigold, chrysanthemum, mallow and viola. Stems, straw and other plant parts also survived, which suggests that people may have gathered whole plants into bouquet-like arrangements before burning them. The tomb also held numerous burials and more than 1,000 ceramic objects and vessel fragments.

What the other tombs held

Tomb YY contained a Mycenaean-style jar with cereals, wild grasses and flowering plants, including poppy and centaury. Tombs UU and XX yielded mainly edible plants such as barley, olives and grapes.

The researchers suggest the differences may reflect two practices. Some mourners deposited food, while others placed arrangements of crops and flowers in graves. In Tomb UU, the team also identified cedar and Mediterranean cypress remains. Burning resin-rich wood could have produced noticeable odors during funeral activities.

A well that may have closed with a ceremony

Separate ash deposits in a well held charred barley, wheat, grape remains and corn chamomile. Their composition differs from typical household waste, which suggests that people placed them deliberately. The researchers believe the deposits may have formed part of a ceremony that marked the closure of the well.

What the evidence does not prove

The evidence does not prove that people burned the plants deliberately as offerings. Fire could have served practical purposes, and the team cannot rule out explanations such as cleaning activities at the well. Fire may also have carried symbolic meaning, possibly marking transitions associated with death.

Ancient Greek funeral customs also featured plants, but those traditions do not establish a direct connection to the Cypriot findings. The mix of flowering plants and cereal remains does suggest that some deposits happened in early summer, possibly around harvest time. The repeated discoveries suggest that plants played a role in Cypriot ceremonies beyond food production and consumption.

Source: Greek Reporter, 9 October 2026, reporting on a study by Teresa Bürge et al. (DOI 10.1080/00758914.2026.2709994).