Griffin Warrior's tomb
The Griffin Warrior's shaft tomb was found in 2015 close to the Mycenaean Palace of Nestor in Ano Eglianos - Chora. The University of Cincinnati, whose team worked in the area for over 25 years, made the great discovery. The tomb had not been looted and contained a considerable treasure. The gravesite was discovered in an olive grove just below the ground. It belonged to a warrior 30 - 35 years old and dated around 1500 B.C. On the bottom of the tomb, which measures 2,44 metres in length, 1,52 metres in depth and 1,22 metres in width, the adult man's skeleton was found in a lying position, being placed in a wooden coffin. More than 1400 objects were excavated. The excavation also revealed the building remains of some tiny houses and a small section of the early fortification of the Acropolis.
Next to the warrior, on his right side, the following objects had been placed: a bronze sword (its hilt coated with gold), gold rings and cups, a rare, perfectly preserved gold chain, silver cups, bronze vases, a bronze amphora, fifty carved seals (on the surface of which goddesses and acrobats jumping over bulls are depicted) and more than a thousand beads made out of semiprecious stones, (carnelian, amethyst, amber and gold).
Next to the left hand of the skeleton, three seals were discovered. The archaeologists did not expect to find any seals on the left side of his body since. Usually, they were placed on the right side. Gold cups rested on the warrior’s chest and stomach. There was a plaque of ivory on the dead's feet with a representation of a winged gryphon and a bronze mirror with an ivory handle next to it. The Gryphon (the mythical monster half lion - half eagle) reflects the well-known power system in both the Palaces of Pylos and Knossos.
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