Ancient Greek tombs ‘once lined with gold’ and filled with treasures unearthed after 3,500 years
HUGE opulent tombs that were once lined with gold leaf and filled with treasures have been unearthed in Greece.
Archaeologists think the burial chambers were made for two very important people who died in the Bronze Age around 3,500 years ago.
Despite not knowing the names of the deceased or revealing much about them, the researchers behind the find think it's deeply important for aiding further understanding of early Greek culture.
The tombs were found in Pylos, a place that overlooks the Mediterranean Sea and is close to the important and treasure filled Griffin Warrior grave.
The Griffin Warrior was discovered back in 2015 with over 3,000 precious artefacts including jewellery and weapons.
Jewellery, beads, a carved sealstone and thousands of gold leaf fragments were recently discovered in the newly found tombs.
The resting places of these important ancient Greeks were hidden underground.
They are laid out in a beehive-shaped structure called a tholi, which means a circular shaped structure or mound.
They also show evidence of being looted in the past but still contain a lot of treasure.
Archaeologist Sharon Stocker of the University of Cincinnati said: "Like with the Griffin Warrior grave, by the end of the first week we knew we had something that was really important.
"It soon became clear to us that lightning had struck again."
The tombs are being referred to as Tholos VI and Tholos VII and were not easy to find.
Dome structures that would have once covered the tombs collapsed long ago so they were hidden underneath rubble and plants.
This made them harder to discover than the nearby tomb Tholus IV, which is largely still in tact from the outside and was found in 1939.
The excavation process of the newly discovered tombs took around 18 months.
Treasures inside date back to the Mycenaean period between 1600 and 1100 BC.
A lot of them are thought to have been imported, including Egyptian amethyst and Baltic amber.
One of the most interesting artefacts discovered is a gold ring that is inscribed with bulls and barely.
Archaeologist Jack Davis, also from the University of Cincinnati, said: "It's an interesting scene of animal husbandry - cattle mixed with grain production. It's the foundation of agriculture.
"As far as we know, it's the only representation of grain in the art of Crete or Minoan civilisation."
The researchers also found a stamp seal, pictured below, that features a 16-pointed star.
This symbol was quite common in Greece from the 6th century BC onward but thought to be less so in the time the graves date back to.
Stocker said: "There aren't many 16-pointed stars in Mycenaean iconography.
"The fact that we have two objects with 16 points in two different media (agate and gold) is noteworthy."
The diversity of the goods in the graves suggests the wealth of the people who were buried there as well as highlighting Pylos as a thriving Bronze Age port.
Stocker concluded: "I think these are probably people who were very sophisticated for their time.
"They have come out of a place in history where there were few luxury items and imported goods. And all of a sudden at the time of the first tholos tombs, luxury items appear in Greece.
"You have this explosion of wealth. People are vying for power. It's the formative years that will give rise to the Classic Age of Greece."
A brief history of Ancient Greece
Here's what you need to know...
- The powerful Ancient Greek civilisation is generally regarded as emerging into the world in the 8th century BC
- They ruled over a vast part of the world for centuries and this only ended when Greece fell to the Romans in 146 BC
- The Ancient Greek Empire is well known for being sophisticated and for its connection to philosophers, artists, poets and other geniuses that still impact the world today
- It is also regarded as the time in which the concept of a city-state was officially established
- The Ancient Greeks invented the Olympics and their gods and impressive architecture are widely discussed and studied throughout the world
- Before them came Mycenaean Greece, which was the last stage of the Bronze Age in Ancient Greece and lasted from approximately 1600–1100 BC
- Mycenaen Greece perished with the Bronze Age but represents the first mainland civilisation in Greece and did influence the culture and innovations of the Ancient Greek Empire
TOP STORIES IN SCIENCE
In other archaeology news, an ancient skeleton with an ‘extremely rare form of dwarfism’ has been unearthed in China.
A lost Ancient Greek civilisation invented ‘single-use cups’ because ‘no one wanted to do the washing up’ 3,500 years ago.
And, from vagina impalement to ‘death by elephant’ – history’s most gruesome execution methods revealed.
What do you think of the Greek tomb discovery? Let us know in the comments...
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Tech & Science team? Email us at [email protected]