A fallen stone in the entrance reportedly appears to provide a view of a painted sculpture or decoration within. Hopes are high this will contain clues as to the identity of the tomb’s occupant.
Greek archaeologists say the attention is placing an unfair burden on the excavation team. The diggers, however, are continuing to shore-up the ancient structure to ensure the safety to protect workers before they enter the new chamber.
The risk of cave-in is high, so timber beams and retaining walls are being erected as archaeologists advance further into the structure.
Lina Mendoni, General Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, has told media that the monument has elements indicating that its owner had a “cosmopolitan” outlook.
Less than half the tomb, which bears signs of having been plundered in antiquity, has been explored, and removing the tons of earth that fill it will take weeks. Although no burials have been found so far, the opulence points to some senior official linked with Ancient Greek warrior-king Alexander the Great.
The barrel-vaulted tomb is among the biggest of its period in antiquities-rich Greece. Excavator Katerina Peristeri believes the mound was originally topped by a stone lion on a large plinth, found a few kilometres away 100 years ago, that was probably removed during Roman times. She has also voiced strong hopes that the site hasn’t been looted.
Archaeologist Chryssoula Paliadelli, who is not involved in the excavation, told The Associated Press that the tomb has several exceptional features, including a monumental facade that leaves the top of the vault exposed above two large marble sphinxes.
The site, set among almond groves and tobacco fields, has about 20 police providing a 24-hour guard to deter looters, who have plagued the area in the past.
Former antiquities guard Alekos Kochliaridis told the AP that robbers tried to excavate the mound in 1952, brazenly turning up in broad daylight with a mechanical digger.
“We local residents called the police and they chased them off,” he said. “The whole surrounding area has plenty of holes left by illegal excavations.”
Speculation is rife that the tomb may contain buried treasure and the remains of an eminent figure — although Alexander himself was buried in Egypt.
Professor of History and Archaeology in the University of Cyprus Theodoros Mavraganis has said he believes the tomb belongs to Hephaestion, one of Alexander the Great childhood friends. He also accompanied him Alexander as a general on his ten-year campaign in Asia.
Another theory attributes the tomb to one of Alexander’s admirals, Nearchos. He was exiled to Amphipolis by King Philip II.
A third scenario is that Alexander’s Persian wife, Roxana, and his son, Alexander IV, are buried there. They also had been banished to Amphipolis in around 310 B.C.
Dozens of tourists daily try to get a peek of the fenced-off site, and visitor numbers at the nearby Amphipolis museum have swelled.
Paliadelli, a professor at the University of Thessaloniki, said the media attention is greater than during the discovery in the late 1970s, in which she participated, of a rich unplundered tomb identified as that of Alexander’s father, King Philip II of Macedonia in a royal cemetery 200 kilometres to the west.
The Association of Greek Archaeologists criticised the Culture Ministry’s approach to the media, which it said was tailored to “satisfying a public opinion hooked on facile sensationalism and over-consumption of television, print and online sub-products.”
Source: AP
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