Rare Unlooted Grave of Wealthy Warrior Uncovered in Greece

[viper37]

Link

The text message from the trench supervisor to archaeologists Jack Davis and Sharon Stocker was succinct: "Better come. Hit bronze."   The excavators exploring a small stone shaft on a rocky promontory in southern Greece had found an unusual tomb of an ancient warrior. The burial may hold important clues to the origin of Greek civilization some 3,500 years ago.  Along with the well-preserved skeleton of a man in his early thirties, the grave contains more than 1,400 objects arrayed on and around the body, including gold rings, silver cups, and an elaborate bronze sword with an ivory hilt.  More surprising were 50 stone seals intricately carved with goddesses, lions, and bulls, as well as a half-dozen delicate ivory combs, a bronze mirror, and some 1,000 carnelian, amethyst, and jasper beads once strung together as necklaces. Between the man's legs lay an ivory plaque carved with a griffin.  "Not since Schliemann have complete burials of this type been found in Greece," says John Bennet, an archaeologist at the University of Sheffield in Britain and director of the British School at Athens, who is not involved with the dig. In the late 19th century, archaeological pioneer Heinrich Schliemann excavated Troy and Mycenae, the major Greek center from about 1600 B.C. to 1100 B.C.  Light on a Dark Time  The grave is located at the southwest end of the Peloponnese peninsula at Pylos, a place mentioned by Homer in the Odyssey as the site of King Nestor's palace with its "lofty halls." Excavations before and after World War II revealed remnants of a large Mycenaean palace dating to about 1300 B.C., as well as hundreds of clay tablets written in the Linear B script developed on Crete, an island about 100 miles offshore. Those texts led to the translation of Linear B, and confirmed the identity of Pylos.


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[jimmy olsen]

Schliemann would have titled this thread Grave of King Nestor Discovered!!!11.

You have failed good sir! 

[Caliga]

Schliemann would have titled this thread Grave of King Nestor Discovered!!!11.

You have failed good sir! 

[viper37]

Schliemann would have titled this thread Grave of King Nestor Discovered!!!11.

You have failed good sir! 

I was waiting for you to do a thread on this, but you didn't!   The fail is on you, Sir!

[jimmy olsen]

Schliemann would have titled this thread Grave of King Nestor Discovered!!!11.

You have failed good sir! 

He totally would have, he was the Timmy of his age.

[Caliga]

But he said he discovered Troy... and he was right.

[jimmy olsen]

But he said he discovered Troy... and he was right.

He also said he found the funeral mask of Agamemnon.

[Razgovory]

But he said he discovered Troy... and he was right.

His work was a bit sensational.  Kudos on Tim on remembering where Nester came from though.

[Monoriu]

More assets they can use to repay their creditors 

[Richard Hakluyt]

Schliemann would have titled this thread Grave of King Nestor Discovered!!!11.

You have failed good sir! 

Very true 

[crazy canuck]

Well played Timmay 

[The Minsky Moment]

But he said he discovered Troy... and he was right.

Calvert discovered the location of Troy; Schliemann took the credit.