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PAINTED ROMAN TOMB FOUND IN CORINTH

 

August 31, 2012

 

"A Roman period tomb containing vivid murals was found in January 2012 during excavation work on the new highway between Corinth-Patras in Greece, according to a report in Το BHMA newspaper.

 

The underground chamber tomb has been dated stylistically to the 3rd century CE and measures 2.40 x 2.30 metres internally. The roof, which has been partially damaged is barrel vaulted.

 

There are two decorated sarcophagi, one of which is not well preserved, but the other contains a picture of a beautiful young woman lying on a bed. Within the sarcophagus were two urns, one of which contained a female burial.

 

With large bright eyes, auburn hair carefully coiffured into the most fashionable of hairstyles and large red lips this is a lifelike portrait. She is wearing gold earrings and her body is covered with a red blanket decorated with yellow, blue and white stripes. It is designed to look as if she is merely resting."

 

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Return to Antikythera: Divers Revisit Wreck Where Ancient Computer Found

 

Site where oldest computer lay for thousands of years may yield other treasures and even another Antikythera mechanism

 

Posted by

Jo Marchant

Tuesday 2 October 2012 14.10 BST

 

 

It took more than 100 years to work out from its corroded remains how the Antikythera mechanism worked. Video: New Scientist

 

"In 1900, Greek sponge divers stumbled across "a pile of dead, naked women" on the seabed near the tiny island of Antikythera. It turned out the figures were not corpses but bronze and marble statues, part of a cargo of stolen Greek treasure that was lost when the Roman ship carrying them sank two thousand years ago on the island's treacherous rocks.

 

It was the first marine wreck to be studied by archaeologists, and yielded the greatest haul of ancient treasure that had ever been found. Yet the salvage project – carried out in treacherous conditions with desperately crude equipment – was never completed. So this month, armed with the latest diving technology, scientists are going back."

 

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Archaeology: Crete, 3500-year-old Minoan Building Found

 

From same period as Knossos Palace, over 1,300 square metres

 

04 OCTOBER, 13:53

 

"(ANSAmed) - ATHENS, OCTOBER 4 - An accidental meeting in 1982 between a well-known Greek archaeologist, Yannis Sakellarakis, and a shepherd from Crete has led to an archaeological discovery of great importance ; Zominthos, a settlement from the Minoan era on the plain by the same name, 1.187 metres above the sea. The settlement is at the feet of the highest mountain in Crete, Mount Psiloritis, eight kilometres from the village of Anogia along the road which led from Knossos to Ideon Andron, the cave where Zeus was born according to Greek mythology.

 

The shepherd, who lived in Anogia, invited the archaeologist who was working at an excavation site nearby to visit the area of Zominthos. The name was enough for an expert like Sakellarakis to suspect that something could be found in that area."

 

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Tomb Near Serres Wife, Son of Alexander?

 

By Stella Tsolakidou

 

October 6, 2012

 

"Archaeologists from the 28th Ephorate of Antiquities unearthed a tomb in the city of Amphipolis, near Serres, northern Greece, which they believe could belong to the wife and son of Alexander the Great, Roxane and Alexander IV.

 

The circular precinct is three meters, or nearly 10 feet high and its perimeter is about 500 metes, or 1,640 feet surrounding the tomb located in an urban area close to the small city of Amphipolis. The head of the team, Katerina Peristeri noted that it is too soon to talk with certainty about the identities of the discovery.

 

“Of course this precinct is one we have never seen before, neither in Vergina nor anywhere else in Greece. There is no doubt about this. However, any further associations with historic figures or presumptions cannot be yet made because of the severe lack of evidence and finances that will not allow to continue the excavations at least for the time being,” she added."

 

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Archaeologists Explore Ancient Market

 

Published on October 14, 2012

 

"ARCHAEOLOGISTS exploring the Agora (market) of ancient Paphos have found a small tablet with the name of an official in Greek and a plethora of other artefacts including a golden pendant, it was announced this week.

 

“The most spectacular finds are a golden earring or pendant, ending in an ivy leaf, bronze objects such as a jug, a ladle with an iron handle, bronze ring, numerous coins, pins and other artefacts,” the department of antiquities said. “The most notable artefact among the lead objects – apart from a ladle with an iron handle, similar to the one uncovered last year, and weights – is a small tablet with Greek inscription mentioning the official –- Seleukos, son of Agoranomos (market administrator) Ioulios Bathylos."

 

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An Ancient City (1200-100 BC) Comes to Light at Krousona

 

by Archaeology newsroom - Wednesday, 14 November 2012

 

"An important archaeological excavation has just started at the “Koupos” site, by Krousona, not far from Herakleion (Crete). The site has been known since the early 20th century for the existence of an ancient city whose name remains unknown. The actual project is made possible by the collaboration between the 13th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities and the Malevisi Municipality. Mayor Kostas Mamoulakis has taken in charge all expenses, while Athanasia Kanta, Director of the 13th EPCA, supervises the work. Furthermore, to facilitate the excavations, Malevizi Municipality has bought a big lot of land."

 

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Archaeological Digs Reveal Evolution of Paphos Theatre

 

Published on November 27, 2012

 

"FRAGMENTS of marble sculptures from a monument consecrated to the nymphs of ancient Greek and Roman mythology have been uncovered during on-going excavations at Paphos' ancient theatre, the archaeological team in charge of the dig have announced.

 

The 15th season of excavations into one of Cyprus’ largest ancient theatres unearthed a number of significant finds, including fragments of carved marble adornments from the stage and from a monument to the nymphs or nymphaeum.

 

Paphos was the capital of Cyprus in Greek and Roman times and its ancient archaeological remains are on the World Heritage List.

 

Of particular interest to the archaeological team, led by Dr Craig Barker and Dr Smadar Gabrielli of the University of Sydney, is that the Paphos theatre is the only ancient theatre of Cyprus not to have undergone modern restoration. As such it is a unique structure because it is the sole remaining theatre containing visible traces of its architectural development."

 

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Killer Cave May Have Inspired Myth of Hades

 

By Charles Choi, LiveScience Contributor | LiveScience.com – 8 hrs ago

 

"A giant cave that might have helped serve as the inspiration for the mythic ancient Greek underworld Hades once housed hundreds of people, potentially making it one of the oldest and most important prehistoric villages in Europe before it collapsed and killed everyone inside, researchers say.

 

The complex settlement seen in this cave suggests, along with other sites from about the same time, that early prehistoric Europe may have been more complex than previously thought.

The cave, located in southern Greece and discovered in 1958, is called Alepotrypa, which means "foxhole."

 

"The legend is that in a village nearby, a guy was hunting for foxes with his dog, and the dog went into the hole and the man went after the dog and discovered the cave," said researcher Michael Galaty, an archaeologist at Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss. "The story's probably apocryphal — depending on who you ask in the village, they all claim it was their grandfather who found the cave.""

 

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HOW DID THE ORACLE AT DELPHI REALLY PROPHESIZE?

 

Analysis by DNews Editors

 

Wed Dec 5, 2012 02:42 PM ET

 

By Esther Inglis-Arkell, iO9

 

"The Oracle at Delphi is referenced throughout Greek myths and history. Supposedly she was rendered psychic by Apollo. Realistically, she was off her skull on gas that seeped out of the fissures of the temple in which she lived. Here is the scientific explanation for what caused this woman to utter her confused prophecies.

 

Even during the Oracle at Delphi's time, it was widely known that the Oracle's visions had a practical cause. Gas seeped out of the cracks in the cave where she sat, causing her to talk nonsense. This nonsense would then be interpreted by priests around her. Some of the predictions were surprisingly accurate, according to legend. Croesus, the richest man of his time, performed a kind of scientific test on oracles, when he had messengers go out to all of them and ask what he would be doing on a certain date. Delphi got the only correct answer -- cooking a tortoise in a pot. (Bold choice. I wouldn't think of the richest guy in the world doing his own cooking.)"

 

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Mosaic Floor Unearthed in Didymoteicho

 

By Nicky Mariam Onti on December 14, 2012

 

"A series of well-preserved archaeological finds have been discovered during this year’s excavations at what has been identified as the ancient Plotinopolis, situated in the outskirts of modern-day Didymoteicho, northeastern Greece. Plotinopolis was a Roman city founded by the Roman Emperor Traianus, who named it after his wife Plotini.

 

The hill of Aghia Petra, just outside Didymoteicho, has been the focus of archaeological interest since before World War II, while in 1965 a golden forged bust of Roman Emperor Septimius Severus was found there. From 1965 onward, the 19th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities has been conducting systematic excavations in the area."

 

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Archaeologists Unearth More Than 300 Prehistoric Clay Figurines in Greece

 

Jan. 7, 2013 — Archaeologists from the University of Southampton studying a Neolithic archaeological site in central Greece have helped unearth over 300 clay figurines, one of the highest density for such finds in south-eastern Europe.

 

"The Southampton team, working in collaboration with the Greek Archaeological Service and the British School at Athens, is studying the site of Koutroulou Magoula near the Greek village of Neo Monastiri, around 160 miles from Athens.

 

Koutroulou Magoula was occupied during the Middle Neolithic period (c. 5800 - 5300 BC) by a community of a few hundred people who made architecturally sophisticated houses from stone and mud-bricks. The figurines were found all over the site, with some located on wall foundations. It's believed the purpose of figurines was not only as aesthetic art, but also to convey and reflect ideas about a community's culture, society and identity."

 

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Athenian 'Snake Goddess' Gets New Identity

 

By Stephanie Pappas | LiveScience.com – 19 hrs ago

 

"SEATTLE - A mysterious "snake goddess" painted on terracotta and discovered in Athens may actually be Demeter, the Greek goddess of the harvest.

 

Once linked to the worship of the dead, the goddess is flanked by two snakes on a slab of terracotta about the size of a piece of notebook paper. She has her hands up above her head, which has given her the nickname "the touchdown goddess" thanks to the resemblance of the pose to a referee's signal. The goddess is painted in red, yellow and blue-green on a tile, with only her head molded outward in three dimensions. This unusual piece of art was found amid a jumble of gravel and other terracotta fragments in 1932 in what was once the Athenian agora, or public square.

 

The catch, however, is that the snake goddess isn't originally from the agora. The gravel and figurine fragments were fill material, brought in from an unknown second location to build a path or road in the seventh century B.C.

 

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HEAP OF CATTLE BONES MAY MARK ANCIENT FEASTS

 

Analysis by DNews Editors

 

Wed Jan 9, 2013 12:59 PM ET

 

By Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer

 

"A metric ton of cattle bones found in an abandoned theater in the ancient city of Corinth may mark years of lavish feasting, a new study finds.

 

The huge amount of bones -- more than 1,000 kilograms (2,205 pounds) -- likely represent only a tenth of those tossed out at the site in Peloponnese, Greece, said study researcher Michael MacKinnon, an archaeologist at the University of Winnipeg.

 

"What I think that they're related to are episodes of big feasting in which the theater was reused to process carcasses of hundreds of cattle," MacKinnon told LiveScience. He presented his research Friday (Jan. 4) at the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America in Seattle."

 

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Article:

Did an Earthquake Destroy Ancient Greece?

Becky Oskin, OurAmazingPlanet Staff Writer

Date: 23 April 2013 Time: 01:18 PM ET

"The grand Mycenaens, the first Greeks, inspired the legends of the Trojan Wars, "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey." Their culture abruptly declined around 1200 B.C., marking the start of a Dark Ages in Greece.

The disappearance of the Mycenaens is a Mediterranean mystery. Leading explanations include warfare with invaders or uprising by lower classes. Some scientists also think one of the country's frequent earthquakes could have contributed to the culture's collapse. At the ruins of Tiryns, a fortified palace, geologists hope to find evidence to confirm whether an earthquake was a likely culprit.

Tiryns was one of the great Mycenaean cities. Atop a limestone hill, the city-state's king built a palace with walls so thick they were called Cyclopean, because only the one-eyed monster could have carried the massive limestone blocks. The walls were about 30 feet (10 meters) high and 26 feet (8 m) wide, with blocks weighing 13 tons, said Klaus-G. Hinzen, a seismologist at the University of Cologne in Germany and project leader. He presented his team's preliminary results April 19 at the Seismological Society of America's annual meeting in Salt Lake City."

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Downfall of Ancient Greece Blamed on 300-year Drought

Tia Ghose

LiveScience

Aug. 14, 2013 at 6:42 PM ET

"A 300-year drought may have caused the demise of several Mediterranean cultures, including ancient Greece, new research suggests.

A sharp drop in rainfall may have led to the collapse of several eastern Mediterranean civilizations, including ancient Greece, around 3,200 years ago. The resulting famine and conflict may help explain why the entire Hittite culture, chariot-riding people who ruled most of the region of Anatolia, vanished from the planet, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE."

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From Xirokambi (Laconia) to Shanghai

An honourable distinction for the excavation of Aghios Vassilios

by Archaeology newsroom - Thursday, 12 September 2013

"It is one of the most interesting and most promising Greek excavations, whose distinction in an international archaeological forum may seem natural, but it’s not to be taken for granted. Ongoing surveys in Aghios Vassilios of Xirokambi (Municipality of Sparta), in Laconia, led by the Emeritus Ephor of Antiquities Adamantia Vasilogamvrou, have brought to light finds which confirm the importance of the archaeological site, such as the remains of a Mycenaean palace, Linear B tablets, numerous fragments of wall paintings, bronze swords, and various valuable objects.

The excavation, along with nine others from all over the world, was presented during the inaugural Shanghai Archaeology Forum (SAF), held from the 23rd through the 26th of August 2013 at the China Art Museum of Shanghai. Given the fact that no other survey conducted on European ground was included in SAF’s programme, the distinction is regarded to be very important for the Aghios Vassilios team and for Greece."

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New Finds Uncovered at Ancient Greek Site of Argilos

Sat, Sep 28, 2013


Excavations to shed light on life at an early Greek colony in the 7th through 5th centuries B.C.

"With a team of 50 students and additional help from workmen, archaeologists have uncovered the remains of structures at the site of ancient Argilos on the coast of Macedonia, reporting that the finds will help open an additional window on the development and economy of one of the earliest Greek colonies in an area that was previously settled by the Thracians.

Among the discoveries was a large portico consisting of at least seven storerooms.

"The building is in a remarkable state of preservation, and five rooms have been partially excavated this year," report excavation co-directors Zizis Bonias of Greece's 18th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities and Jacques Perreault of the University of Montreal. "In its early state, the building probably dates back to the 6th century BC."

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6,000-Year-Old Wine Found In Greece; Ancient Samples May Be Oldest Unearthed In Europe

The Huffington Post  |  By Meredith Bennett-Smith    

Posted: 10/03/2013 8:41 am EDT  |  Updated: 10/03/2013 8:41 am EDT

"Conventional wisdom agrees that a fine wine generally gets better with age -- good news for the 6,200-year-old wine samples unearthed in Greece, huh?

Researchers working at an ongoing dig site in northern Greece recently announced that the final results of residue analysis from ancient ceramics showed evidence of wine dating back to 4200 B.C., according to the Greek Reporter. The excavation, located at a prehistoric settlement known as Dikili Tash, is situated 1.2 miles from the ancient city of Philippi and has been inhabited since 6500 B.C., according to the researchers' website.

The analysis was not conducted on liquid wine, though. The passing millennia have erased nearly all tangible evidence of the drink, Dimitra Malamidou, a co-director of the most recent excavation, told The Huffington Post in an email.

"All [that] is left from the liquid part is the residue in the surface of the ceramic vases," she said. "Recent residue analysis on ceramics attested [to] the presence of tartaric acid, indicating fermentation."

Malamidou is part of a joint Greek-French excavation that began in 2008. The team recently wrapped up excavation of a neolithic house from around 4500 B.C. This is where they found wine traces in the form of "some thousands of carbonized grape pips together with the skins indicating grape pressing," Malamidou said."

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UC Research Uncovers How Ancient Artists Used Palace Floor as a Creative Canvas

New research finds that the Throne Room floor in the Bronze Age Palace of Nestor located in what is today Pylos, Greece, is an unusual example of artistic innovation for its time.

Date: 1/2/2014 9:45:00 AM

By: M.B. Reilly

"The floors of Greek Bronze Age palaces were made of plaster that was often incised and painted with grids containing brightly colored patterns and/or marine animal figures.

In researching one such floor in the Throne Room at the Palace of Nestor, one of the best-preserved palaces of the Mycenaean civilization, University of Cincinnati Department of Classics doctoral student Emily Catherine Egan has found evidence that the floor’s painted designs, dating back to between 1300-1200 BC, were meant to replicate a physical hybrid of cloth and stone – serving not only to impress but also to instruct the ancient viewer.

She will present her findings at the Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, Jan. 2-5, in Chicago, one of a number of UC presentations at the conference. Her work at the Palace of Nestor builds on a long tradition in UC's McMicken College of Arts and Sciences since the remains of the site were first discovered in 1939 by UC archaeologist Carl Blegen.

According to Egan, “Mycenaean palatial floor paintings are typically believed to represent a single surface treatment – most often cut stone or pieced carpets. At Pylos, however, the range of represented patterns suggests that the floor in the great hall of the palace was deliberately designed to represent both of these materials simultaneously, creating a new, clever way to impress visitors while simultaneously instructing them on where to look and how to move within the space."

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12012013, Cover Stories, Daily News

Researchers Investigate Archaic Greek City-State in Crete

Thu, Feb 06, 2014

Archaeologists resume excavations at ancient site in eastern Crete to reconstruct development of early Greek city-state.

"An ancient site in eastern Crete may now be providing some answers to the questions of how and why the earliest Archaic city-states on this important Greek island of the Aegean developed and emerged more than 2,500 years ago.

Led by Project Director and archaeologist Donald Haggis of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Field Director Margaret Mook of Iowa State University, a research and excavation team will return to the location of Azoria, an archaeological site situated on a hill overlooking the Gulf of Mirabello in northeastern Crete. Initially explored by the American archaeologist Harriet Boyd-Hawes in 1900, the site has since yielded evidence of human occupation from Final Neolithic times until shortly after 200 B.C.E. The most prolific remains recovered, however, span the periods corresponding to a long, continuous occupation from the Early Iron Age or Greek Dark Age (1200-700 B.C.E.) into the Early Archaic (700-600 B.C.E.)."

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Archeologists Discover Five Royal Tombs Near Vergina

The uncovered royal tombs are believed to belong to members of King Cassander's family

Friday, March 14, 2014

"The director of the 17th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities Angeliki Kottaridi believes that the five tombs discovered in Vergina could belong to members of the Temenid dynast or even King Cassander himself. Mrs. Kottaridi made the bold revelation at the Thursday afternoon conference at the University of Thessaloniki.

Cassander was one of Alexander the Great’s successors and husband to his sister, Thessaloniki, who established the Antipatrid dynasty. King Cassander became known for his hostility towards the memory of Alexander the Great and he is credited with changing the name of Therma to Thessaloniki"

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and (including photos)

here.

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03012014, Cover Stories, Daily News

Archaeologists Excavate for Archaic Greek City of Tenea

Thu, May 22, 2014

"It was in July 1984 when rescue excavations conducted by Dr. Elena Korka, now Director of the Ephorate of Private Archaeological Collections and Antiquity Shops, turned up an ancient sarcophagus of the Greek early archaic period near the town of Chiliomodi in Greece. The sarcophagus contained a female skeleton along with offerings. The interior of the sarcophagus slab was adorned with a composition consisting of two lions of monumental character. It was a remarkable find.

But this was not altogether surprising, as archaeologists and historians believed that somewhere in the area the central structural remains of the city of Tenea likely existed. Established, according to written sources, not far from the ancient cities of Corinth and Mycenae shortly after the Trojan War, its first inhabitants were said to be Trojan prisoners of war settled there by Agamemnon. Tenea was considered to be the main settlement of the valley, situated strategically to control the way from Argos to ancient Corinth, and the historian Strabo wrote that Tenea was the location where the Corinthian king Polybius nursed Oedipus."

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Archaeologists Excavate Lower City of Mycenae

Mon, Jun 02, 2014

Mycenae -- the ancient city of the legendary King Agamemnon, best known from Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and its iconic Lion Gate and cyclopean defensive walls, has long fascinated scholars and site visitors alike with the epic proportions of its imposing citadel remains. Located about 56 miles southwest of Athens in Greece, it is a World Heritage site.

But there is another Mycenae -- one known for centuries from ancient historical documents -- which has nevertheless eluded the eyes of archaeologists, historians, and tourists. One might call it "Greater Mycenae", the Lower Town. It is invisible because most of it still lies undetected, unexcavated, below the surface. In its heyday it was a second millenium BC version of urban sprawl that served as a vital element of the ancient city's florescence.

 

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Wine Cup Used by Pericles Found in Grave North of Athens

ekathimerini.com , Wednesday Jul 30, 2014 (14:14)

"A cup believed to have been used by Classical Greek statesman Pericles has been found in a pauper's grave in north Athens, according to local reports Wednesday.

The ceramic wine cup, smashed in 12 pieces, was found during building construction in the northern Athens suburb of Kifissia, Ta Nea daily said.

After piecing it together, archaeologists were astounded to find the name "Pericles" scratched under one of its handles, alongside the names of five other men, in apparent order of seniority.

Experts are "99 per cent" sure that the cup was used by the Athenian statesman, as one of the other names listed, Ariphron, is that of Pericles' elder brother."

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