Protaras - Items, spotted in a looted tomb by workers constructing a pedestrian precinct in Protaras are of huge archaeological value, the Antiquities Department believes.

Excavations on site began on Tuesday morning. Initial indications suggest that the tomb was used during the Hellenistic and Roman periods from the 3rd century BC until the first centuries AD.

George Georgiou, an archaeologist with the Antiquities Department, has described this as an ''important finding'', adding that ''the value of the grave lies in that it is one of few found intact during the excavations. In this area, there are burial chambers of the same period that were found looted and open.”

Four sarcophagi, one of which with black figures on it, have been found in the tomb. Bones, glass pots and pottery were also found intact.
The Mayor Paralimni, Andreas Evangelou said that the municipality will cooperate fully with the Department of Antiquities and reiterated his demand to have an archaeological museum in the area.