The settlement and cemetery of Bamboula lie within the village of Episkopi on a low hill overlooking the Kouris River valley. Bamboula was excavated in 1937-39 by John Franklin Daniel, who then returned for a final season in 1948. He died suddenly later that year, and the site was published by Saul S. Weinberg and J. L. Benson. They conducted short campaigns in 1951 and 1954.

Daniel’s excavations uncovered a Bronze Age settlement with tombs on the outskirts of the community. Bamboula was thought to be the primary settlement in the area during the Late Bronze Age, and it provides a close sequence of habitation levels from early in the period to end. The settlement was established ca.1600-1500 BC, but the most substantial remains are from the 13th century BC and into the early 12th century BC. Excavations revealed multi-room houses, workshops, and a street. A circuit wall with towers was built in the 14th century BC. Numerous tombs, some unplundered, were excavated, and Bamboula shows clear evidence of contact with Egypt, the Levant, and Mycenaean Greece. Writing is attested by a number of objects inscribed with Cypro-Minoan script.

As was the case elsewhere at Kourion, there had been 19th century excavations at Bamboula, including those on behalf of the British Museum. In the course of his excavations in the cemetery, Daniel found fragments that belonged to the well-known “Window Krater,” an imported Mycenaean Pictorial Style vase then in the British Museum. The krater dates to early Late Helladic IIIA1 (1400BC-1350BC) and is now in the Cyprus Museum.

The Penn Museum has more than 600 objects from Bamboula, and most are from the cemetery. The collection includes material from more than 30 tombs, some with multiple burials. Most of the collection is pottery—some of it very fine—but there are numerous small finds, including terracotta lamps, ivory objects, glass beads, spindle whorls, loomweights, stone seals and beads, gold jewelry, and a silver ring. The Museum collection includes some thirty objects, the contents of Tomb 4, which is a much later tomb some 300 meters south of Area E and dates to the first half of the 5th century BC.