Greek Farmer Discovers 3,400-Year-Old Tomb Hidden Just Below His Olive Grove
Greek Farmer Discovers 3,400-Year-Old Tomb Hidden Just Below His Olive Grove
BY ROBERT JAY WATSON
June 1, 2019 Updated: June 1, 2019
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While we usually think of Indiana Jones-style archaeologists searching for years to find a single vestige of the past, a recent case on the Greek island of Crete showed just how surprising the act of discovery can be. It all started with a farmer backing his car up to an old olive tree. Soon, the ground began to give way, and he had to pull away in a hurry before his back tire sank below the surface.
The world inside the chamber was a tomb that had been undisturbed for thousands of years, complete with coffins, amphorae (iconic Greek jars that were used for storage), and most spectacular of all, the skeletons of two men. Placed in a crouching position inside their coffins, the skeletons were in relatively good quality, an incredible fact given their age.
What he found wasn’t quicksand but an actual hole that had opened up in the earth. When he looked down inside, what he saw amazed him and brought officials from Greece’s antiquities department to come investigate. It was an underground chamber almost 4 feet wide and more than 8 feet deep. And the artifacts inside were 3,200 to 3,400 years old.
Where did these men come from? As archaeologist Kristina Killgrove wrote in Forbes, “because the pottery is high-quality, it is possible that these were high-status individuals.” They are thought to be from Minoa, an ancient Mediterranean civilization based in the Aegean islands, Corfu, and Sicily, which developed a high standard of living and artistic achievement. The center of Minoan civilization in Crete was based at the palace in Knossos, which was the first place in the world to have running water, flush toilets, and bathtubs.
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