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Tomb discoveries
stun
Feb. 14,
2006
Staff and wire reports
A farmer in Greece
has reportedly stumbled across the largest underground tomb ever found
in that country.
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Alexander the great depicted as Hercules in
an ancient coin.
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The announcement
comes less than a week after Egyptian authorities
offered a peek into the first tomb uncovered in the Valley of the Kings since the tomb of King Tut in 1922.
In Athens, Greece,
archaeologists said a farmer had stumbled across the tomb carved into the rock near the ancient city of
Pella. The city was the birthplace of Alexander the Great, the
4th-Century B.C. King of Macedon and conqueror of Greece, Egypt and Persia.
The archaeologists
reported that the grave dates to the period after Alexander’s death, which was marked by
widespread power struggles. The eight-chambered tomb was
grandiose in style, they added, and is accessible through a 16-meter
(52-foot) entrance.
The tomb was probably used by a noble family about 2,300 years ago,
and some of their names are still visible, according to archaeologists.
Archaeologist Maria Akamati told
the Reuters news agency that this “was a very rich family,” an
unusual find as it was close to an ancient cemetery full of commoners. She
added that at least seven people had been buried in the tomb.
The new find, carved into the rock, was said to retain part of its internal wall
coloring of red, light blue and gold. It was believed to have been
looted over the years, as some of the contents were scattered. Yet it
still was reported to contain jewellery, copper coins and earthen vases.
In the Egyptian discovery, U.S. archaeologists said they discovered the tomb by accident while working on a nearby site. It contains five human mummies and several pottery vessels and is just a few meters from the tomb of King Tutankhamen, according to archaeologists from the University of Memphis in Tennessee, who discovered the site.
The tomb, thought to be around 3,000 years old, does not seem to be that of a pharaoh. But it could be for members of a royal court, said Edwin Brock, co-director of the university.
Archaeologists haven’t entered the tomb, having only opened part of its nearly 5-foot-high entrance door last week. But they have peered inside the single chamber to see the sarcophagi, thought to contain mummies amid about 20 pharaonic jars.
A narrow shaft at the bottom of a 33-foot (10m) deep pit leads down another 16 feet (5m) to the door, made of stone blocks. A hole about 1 foot (30 cm) wide has been opened from the door.
“It was just so amazing to find an intact tomb here after all the work that’s been done before. This was totally unexpected,” Brock said. The
monument is thought to come from the 18th Dynasty, which lasted from 1539 to 1292 B.C. and included the famed “boy King” Tut.
Since the discovery of Tut’s tomb, experts believed that the Valley of the Kings contained only the 62 previously known tombs, which archaeologists have labeled KV1 though KV62.
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