A multinational group of archaeologists has unearthed a 3,500-year-old tomb of Mycenaean warrior near the city of Pylos on the southwest coast of Greece filled with more than 1,400 objects: bronze, silver and gold artifacts, jewels, weapons and armor.
This gold ring with a Cretan bull-jumping scene was one of four solid-gold rings found in the tomb. This number is more than found with any other single burial elsewhere in Greece. Image credit: University of Cincinnati.
“This previously unopened shaft grave of a wealthy Mycenaean warrior, dating back to 1500 BC, is one of the most magnificent displays of prehistoric wealth discovered in mainland Greece in the past 65 years,” said team member Dr Shari Stocker, of the University of Cincinnati.
Dr Stocker and his colleagues found the tomb while working in the area of the famed Palace of Nestor, an extensive complex and a site linked to Homeric legend.
The remains of the palace were uncovered in an olive grove in 1939 by University of Cincinnati archaeologists.
Though it was destroyed by fire sometime around 1200 BC, the Palace of Nestor is nevertheless the best-preserved Bronze Age palace on the Greek mainland.
It was a destination in Homer’s Odyssey, where sacrifices were said to be offered on its beaches. The king who ruled at the palace controlled a vast territory that was divided into more than 20 districts with capital towns and numerous small settlements.
“This latest find is not the grave of the legendary King Nestor, who headed a contingent of Greek forces at Troy in Homer’s Iliad. Nor is it the grave of his father, Neleus,” Dr Stocker said.
“This find may be even more important because the warrior pre-dates the time of Nestor and Neleus by, perhaps, 200 or 300 years. That means he was likely an important figure at a time when this part of Greece was being indelibly shaped by close contact with Crete, Europe’s first advanced civilization.”
“The tomb may have held a powerful warrior or king – or even a trader or a raider – who died at about 30 to 35 years of age but who helped to lay the foundations of the Mycenaean culture that later flourished in the region.”
Top: this is one of more than four dozen seal stones with intricate Minoan designs found in the tomb. Long-horned bulls and, sometimes, human bull jumpers soaring over their horns are a common motif in Minoan designs. Bottom: this unique necklace measures more than 30-inches long and features two gold pendants decorated with ivy leaves. It was found near the neck of the warrior’s skeleton. Image credit: University of Cincinnati.
A remarkable store of riches was deposited in the tomb with the warrior at the time of his death. The mere fact that the vessels in the tomb are of metal is a strong indication of his great wealth.
“It is truly amazing that no ceramic vessels were included among the grave gifts. All the cups, pitchers and basins we found were of metal: bronze, silver and gold. He clearly could afford to hold regular pots of ceramic in disdain,” Dr Stocker said.
“This member of the elite was accompanied in the afterlife by about 50 seal-stones carved with intricate Minoan designs of goddesses as well as depictions of bulls and human bull jumpers soaring over their horns.”
Four gold rings in the tomb contain fine Minoan carvings. A plaque of carved ivory with a representation of a griffon with huge wings lay between the man’s legs. Nearby was a bronze mirror with an ivory handle.
The weapons of bronze within the tomb include a 3.3 foot (1 m) long slashing sword with an ivory handle, several daggers, a spearhead, along with the already-mentioned sword and dagger with gold pommels.
Other gifts included bronze jugs; a large, bronze basin; thin bands of bronze, probably from the warrior’s suit of body armor; many wild boar’s teeth from the warrior’s helmet.
In combination with this weaponry, the discovery of so much jewelry with a male burial challenges the commonly held belief that these apparently feminine adornments and offerings accompanied only wealthy women to the hereafter.
The weapons of bronze found within the tomb included a 3.3 foot (1 m) long slashing sword with an ivory handle covered with gold. Image credit: University of Cincinnati.
“Given the magnitude of this find, it may be necessary to rethink when Pylos and the wider area around it began to flourish,” the archaeologists said.
“It may have been earlier than previously thought since, somehow, whether via trade or force (e.g., raiding), its inhabitants had acquired the valuable objects found within the tomb.”
Many of the tomb’s objects were made in nearby Crete and show a strong Minoan style and technique unknown in mainland Greece in 1500 BC.
“The same would likely have been true of the warrior’s dwelling during this lifetime.”
“He would have lived on the hilltop citadel of nearby Englianos at a time when great mansions were first being built with walls of cut-stone blocks in the style then associated with nearby Mediterranean Island of Crete and its Minoan culture, their walls decorated with paintings influenced by earlier Minoan wall paintings.”
