Sunday, June 24, 2007

Four Mycenaean Tombs Found Intact Near Olympia


"Greek archaeologists have uncovered four intact tombs some 30 centuries old.

The four tombs date from the Mycenaean period (1450 BC to 1050 BC) and are reported to contain many objects such as toys, ceramics, and figurines.

The find was made near Olympia in the Peloponnese region in an area that had been excavated in the 1960s and the end of the 1990s.

One of the tombs found by a team headed by archaeologist Olympia Bikatou was apparently that of a child and held toys, images of protecting deities, and an effigy of the mother, a woman clasping a child.

Bikatou told a seminar at Olympia that her team had found ceramics in the form of boxes, alabaster pots, and amphorae, some of which had four handles, "which give a complete picture of a Mycenaean ceramics workshop."

One of the objects was a flask showing Cypriot influence, suggesting that there were links with the island.

One piece of an amphora has a design showing a body displayed on a stretcher carried by four men, which according to Bikatou, "is the only scene of this type in Mycenaean iconography."
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