Greek Archaeological News - General

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Archaeologists Uncover Vast Ancient Tomb in Greece

Site dates to end of Alexander the Great's reign in 4th century BC and may be grave of a prominent Macedonian, say officials

Reuters
The Guardian, Wednesday 13 August 2014

Archaeologists have unearthed a vast ancient tomb in Greece, distinguished by two sphinxes and frescoed walls and dating to 300-325BC, the government announced on Tuesday.

"The tomb, in the country's north-eastern Macedonia region, which has been gradually unearthed over the past two years, marks a significant discovery from the early Hellenistic era. A culture ministry official said that there was no evidence yet to suggest a link to Alexander the Great – who died in 323BC after an unprecedented military campaign through the Middle East, Asia and northeast Africa – or his family.

The official said the Amphipolis site, about 65 miles north-east of Greece's second-biggest city, Thessaloniki, appeared to be the largest ancient tomb to have been discovered in Greece."

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2,800-Year-Old Zigzag Art Found in Greek Tomb

By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor | August 20, 2014 11:10am ET

"Archaeologists working at the ancient city of Corinth, Greece, have discovered a tomb dating back around 2,800 years that has pottery decorated with zigzagging designs.

The tomb was built sometime between 800 B.C. and 760 B.C., a time when Corinth was emerging as a major power and Greeks were colonizing the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea.

The tomb itself consists of a shaft and burial pit, the pit having a limestone sarcophagus that is about 5.8 feet (1.76 meters) long, 2.8 feet (0.86 m) wide and 2.1 feet (0.63 m) high. When researchers opened the sarcophagus, they found a single individual had been buried inside, with only fragments of bones surviving."

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Stunning Finds from Ancient Greek Shipwreck

 

New Antikythera Discoveries Prove Luxury Cargo Survives

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Media Relations Office

 

October 9, 2014

 

"A Greek and international team of divers and archaeologists has retrieved stunning new finds from an ancient Greek ship that sank more than 2,000 years ago off the remote island of Antikythera. The rescued antiquities include tableware, ship components, and a giant bronze spear that would have belonged to a life-sized warrior statue.

 

The Antikythera wreck was first discovered in 1900 by sponge divers who were blown off course by a storm. They subsequently recovered a spectacular haul of ancient treasure including bronze and marble statues, jewellery, furniture, luxury glassware, and the surprisingly complex Antikythera Mechanism. But they were forced to end their mission at the 55-meter-deep site after one diver died of the bends and two were paralyzed. Ever since, archaeologists have wondered if more treasure remains buried beneath the sea bed."

 

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Astronomical Find: Ancient Greek Wine Cup May Show Constellations

 

By Joseph Castro, Live Science Contributor   |   October 27, 2014 06:27am ET

 

"A 2,600-year-old two-handled wine cup currently on display at the Lamia Archaeological Museum in Greece has long been thought to depict a random assortment of animals.

 

But the piece of ancient pottery, called a skyphos,may actually contain one of the earliest Greek depictions of the constellations, a new analysis shows.

 

The study researchers suggested that other ancient artistic representations of animals may also portray constellations, and hold clues to what the early Greeks knew about astronomy, said study researcher John Barnes, a classical archaeology doctoral candidate at the University of Missouri."

 

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Small 'Underwater Pompeii' Found Off Greek Island

 

NOV 20, 2014 02:20 PM ET // BY ROSSELLA LORENZI

 

"Remains of an ancient settlement, complete with a ruined pottery workshop, have been found on the bottom of the Aegean sea off the small island of Delos, the Greek ministry of culture has announced.

 

Dubbed by the Greek media “a small underwater Pompeii,” the structures lay at a depth of just 6 feet on the northeastern coast of Delos.

 

“In the past these ruins were identified as port facilities,” the culture ministry said.

 

Photos: Exploring Delos: Home of 'Underwater Pompeii'

 

But a new investigation by the National Hellenic Research Foundation and the Ephorate of Undersea Archaeology, led to different conclusions. Rather than a dock, a pottery workshop and other buildings once stood at the site."

 

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Delphi to Exhibit Copy of Battle of Plataeans Column

 

Posted by newsroom in Culture May, 05 2015

 

The copy celebrates the 31 city states victory against the Persians in 479 BC

 

"The Central Archaeological Council announced on Monday that a copy of a bronze column dedicated by 31 city states that had fought in the Battle of Plataeans (479 BC) against the Persians will be replicated and put on display at Delphi. The bronze is currently in Istanbul and stands at six meters."

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2500-Year-Old 'Wonder Woman' Found on Vase

 

JUN 5, 2015 11:24 AM ET // BY ROSSELLA LORENZI

 

"A 2,500-year-old predecessor of DC Comics’ Wonder Woman super heroine has emerged on a vase painting kept at a small American museum.

 

Drawn on a white-ground pyxis (a lidded cylindrical box that was used for cosmetics, jewelry, or ointments) the image shows an Amazon on horseback in a battle against a Greek warrior.

 

Much like the fictional warrior princess of the Amazons, the horsewoman is twirling a lasso."

 

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'The Amazing Inventions of the Ancient Greeks' at the Museum Herakleidon, Athens

 

Posted by TANN Archaeology, Breaking news, Exhibitions, Greece, More Stuff, Travel 3:30 PM

 

August 01, 2015

 

"The exhibition “The Amazing Inventions of the Ancient Greeks” presents functional models of some of the most extraordinary ancient Greek inventions, from the “robot-servant” of Philo and the “hydraulic telegraph” of Aeneas to the “cinema” of Hero, and from the automatic clock of Ctesibius and the astrolabe of Ptolemy to the “analog computer” of Antikythera – a selection of the exhibits of the Museum of Ancient Greek Technology Kostas Kotsanas that operates at Katakolon port and Ancient Olympia, which were constructed after a long and extensive study of ancient Greek, Latin and Arabic literature, information from vase painting and the few relevant archaeological finds."

 

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‘Colossus of Rhodes Project’ to Revive One of Ancient World’s 7 Wonders

 

By Katerina Papathanasiou -  Oct 28, 2015

 

"Young professionals from Greece, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom have been inspired to take up the ambitious “Colossus of Rhodes Project,” aiming to revive one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

 

The Colossus of Rhodes was a statue of the Greek titan-god of the sun Helios, erected on the Greek island of Rhodes by Chares of Lindos, in 280 BC, to celebrate Rhodes’ victory over the ruler of Cyprus, Antigonus I Monophthalmus. It was one of the tallest statues of the ancient world standing over 30 meters (around 98 feet) high."

 

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23 December 2015

 

Greek and Danish Archaeologists Excavate the Ancient Greek Harbour Town Lechaion

 

UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGY 

"In Greece, underwater excavations of Lechaion, ancient Corinth’s partially submerged harbour town, reveal the infrastructure of more than a thousand years of flourishing maritime trade. Researchers from the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports and the University of Copenhagen are using cutting-edge methods to uncover the configuration and scale of the harbour."

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Turning From Idols to Serve the Living God

Ferrell Jenkins

 

Posted on January 15, 2016 | 1 Comment

 

"Recently I was browsing through photos made in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki (Salonica, Thessalonica), Greece, in 2008. I was impressed with the images of various gods and goddesses that were known in the city in the first century A.D. There were statues and busts of Egyptian gods such as Isis, Serapis, and Harpokrates/Horus. Greek gods and goddesses such as Dionysus, Hades, Apollo, Athena, Aphrodite, Demeter, and the mother of the gods often associated with Kybele (Cybele) were known. And there were others."

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PUBLIC RELEASE: 10-FEB-2016

 

Some 5,000 Years Ago, Silver Mining on the Shores of the Aegean Sea

 

An exceptional archaeological discovery at Thorikos (Greece)

 

GHENT UNIVERSITY

 

"The team of mining archaeologists was supervised by Prof. Dr Denis Morin of the University of Lorraine, connected with the UMR CNRS 5608 (UMR National Center for Scientific Research 5608) of Toulouse. The scientists employed a drone to locate above-ground installations connected to the mining. It is the first time that such complex mining infrastructure is studied."

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April 26, 2016

 

ASU Bioarchaeologist Co-Leading Study Curating Remains — Including About 150 Shackled Skeletons — from Greek Port, Using Science to Understand Their Lives, Deaths

 

"Sometime between 2,800 and 2,500 years ago, just before the city-state of Athens was born, about 150 people in shackles were thrown into a burial pit in a Greek port city.

 

Were they prisoners of war? Criminals? Political prisoners? Slaves?"

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Archaeologists Find First Ancient Oracle to Apollo in Athens

 

"The well dates back 1800 years but the prophecy at the sanctuary was evidently much older, archaeologist says."

 

Philippe Bohstrom Jun 07, 2016 6:03 PM

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Scientists Decipher Purpose of Mysterious Astronomy Tool Made by Ancient Greeks

 

Inscriptions on Antikythera Mechanism suggests it was mechanical computer used to track sun, moon

 

The Associated Press Posted: Jun 10, 2016 11:27 AM ET Last Updated: Jun 10, 2016 11:38 AM ET

"When you're trying to fathom a mangled relic of very old hi-tech, it helps to have the manufacturer's instructions.

 

For over a century since its discovery in an ancient shipwreck, the exact function of the Antikythera Mechanism — named after the southern Greek island off which it was found — was a tantalizing puzzle."

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Remains Of Ancient Naval Base Discovered In Athens' Piraeus Harbour

 

6/11/2016 07:00:00 PM 

 

"Marine archaeologist Bjørn Lovén from the University of Copenhagen has - with a team of Greek colleagues - discovered the remains of Athens' ancient naval base that was established in 493 BCE. The base, which was one of the Ancient World's largest structures, played a pivotal role in the defense of Ancient Greece."

 

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[Resource Manager]

Summer 2016, Daily News

 

Rediscovering a Giant

 

By Christofilis Maggidis  

 

Tue, Jul 05, 2016

 

"It all began some twenty-five years ago in the boiling-hot and humid basin of Kopais, a drained marshland in the region of Boeotia in Greece. In July of 1990, already a first-year graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, I was working as a sector supervisor at the archaeological excavation of the Mycenaean citadel of Glas under the direction of my mentor, the late Sp. Iakovidis."

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Scientists Use Mass Spectrometry To 'Look Inside' An Ancient Greek Amphora

 

 7/06/2016 10:00:00 PM

 

"Russian scientists have identified the components of the oldest bitumen sample to be found in an ancient vase and made an accurate estimate of its age. In their article in the Journal of Mass Spectrometry, the researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech), the Institute for the History of Material Culture, the Talrose Institute for Energy Problems of Chemical Physics, and the Emanuel Institute of Biochemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IBCP RAS) propose a new and more effective approach to organic compound analysis and introduce specially designed software."

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23 More Wrecks Found at Greek Hotspot for Sunken Ships

 

By Megan Gannon, Live Science Contributor | July 12, 2016 02:17pm ET

 

"A cluster of Greek islands in the Aegean Sea is giving up some of its deep secrets, as archaeologists have now found 45 shipwrecks there in less than a year's time.

 

Back in September 2015, a team of Greek and American divers located an astonishing 22 shipwrecks over the course of a 13-day survey around Fourni, which is composed of 13 small islands, some too tiny to show up on maps. The team went back to the eastern Aegean islands in June to expand the search. By the time the three-and-a-half-week survey was finished, the researchers bested their first effort: They documented another 23 shipwrecks, bringing the total to 45."

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Russian Archaeologists Uncover Ancient Persian Stele Inscribed with a Message from King Darius I

 

Discovery in Phanagoria, the ancient Greek site near Crimea, is of "international significance"

 

by SOPHIA KISHKOVSKY  |  8 August 2016

 

"An archeological expedition sponsored by the Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska has announced the discovery of a stele with a signature in the name of Persian King Darius I in the center of Phanagoria, the remains of an ancient Greek city near Crimea and the Black Sea."

 

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[Resource Manager]

Animation Brings 2500 Year Old Greek Vase To Life

 

 9/01/2016 07:30:00 PM

 

"Oxford academics have teamed-up with an animator to bring ancient Greek vase scenes to life. The images on this 2,500-year-old vase have been animated to show what life was like in ancient Greece."

 

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[Resource Manager]

Roman-Era Shipwreck And Building Remains Discovered Off The Coast Of Delos

 

9/30/2016 06:30:00 PM

 

"Archaeologists discovered a shipwreck earlier this month off the Greek island of Delos, which was a sanctuary dedicated to the Greek gods Apollo and Artemis during the classical period of Greek antiquity between the fourth and fifth centuries BC."

 

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[Resource Manager]

Fall 2016, Cover Stories, Daily News

 

Archaeologists Unveil New Findings from Greek Warrior's Tomb

 

Mon, Oct 03, 2016

 

UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI—"When University of Cincinnati researchers uncovered the tomb of a Bronze Age warrior—left untouched for more than 3,500 years and packed with a spectacular array of precious jewelry, weapons and riches—the discovery was hailed by experts as "the find of a lifetime."

 

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[Resource Manager]

2016 Excavations At The Ancient City Of Gortyna In Crete Completed

 

10/20/2016 07:00:00 PM

 

"The University of Padova has just completed this year’s excavation season in the ancient city of Gortys (Gortyna) in Crete, reporting outstanding results. Directed by Professor Jacopo Bonetto of the University of Padova, research has focused on the interior of the Temple of Pythian Apollo in the city of Gortys, a huge urban settlement sprawled over some 400 hectares."

 

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[Resource Manager]

Late Bronze Age Grave Of Yound Girl Wearing Elaborate Diadem Found In Northern Greece

 

12/11/2016 08:00:00 PM

 

"A rare diadem dated to the Late Bronze Age (1,500-1,200 BC) was brought to light at the ancient Macedonian city of Pydna, Pieria."

 

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