Previously, an undisturbed rich tomb filled with treasures, some of which once again made one believe in the existence of ancient highly developed civilizations …
Greece. Excavations.
In 2017, archaeologists excavating near the ancient city of Pylos in the Peloponnese in southwestern Greece discovered a tomb with rich contents dating from around 1500 BC. e. An international team led by University of Cincinnati archaeologists Jack Davis and Sharon Stocker excavated an unexplored field near Nestor's Palace. The archaeologists decided to dig in the place where three stones were visible from the ground, which they took for the remains of a Bronze Age house. It soon became clear that these stones were the top of a shaft tomb. After two weeks of excavation, archaeologists, figuratively speaking, stumbled upon gold. They actually found bronze, but that was just the beginning.
In a mine tomb, approximately 1.5 m deep, 1.2 m wide and 2.4 m long, rested the skeleton of an adult male and a stunning collection of funerary implements. To the left of his chest lay a 90 cm long sword with an ivory hilt with gold trim. Under the sword was a dagger with a golden hilt, decorated in the same way as on a long sword. On the right side of it, jewelry was found, among which is a scattering of more than a thousand beads of carnelian, amethyst, gold, agate, jasper and gold, most of which were drilled for the possibility of stringing. Small fragments of cross-woven fabric suggest that some beads adorned the burial shroud. Four gold rings were found near the beads - the largest number ever found in a solitary burial in Greece.- plus six silver cups and a set of bronze vessels, some of them with gold or silver trim.
The tomb was found near the ruins of the so-called Palace of Tsar Nestor and apparently belonged to some noble person, since its decoration was very luxurious. Its "owner" was not a close associate of Tsar Nestor, since he lived several centuries earlier.
After the dust settled around the site, an expedition led by archaeologists from the University of Cincinnati, Jack Davis and Sharon Stoker, recovered more than 3,000 objects from the tomb, all of which were sent to the Hora Archaeological Museum for sorting, research and conservation. One of these objects was a small kite-shaped object covered with a thick layer of limestone deposits that completely obscured its surface. He went on the back burner, and the conservatives focused their efforts on more expensive items - piles of gold, weapons and jewelry.
A year later, they finally set about cleaning up that crumb - no more than an inch and a half - and found one of the greatest works of art in Greek history under the layers. This is a seal made not of precious metals, like the signet rings found in the tomb, but of agate. It is valuable for its amazingly detailed and precise miniature carvings.
Not yet cleared by scientists Pylos agate.
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Specialists began to study a small oval object, reaching a length of 3.6 cm. When the top layer of centuries-old layers was removed, a magnificent picture was revealed to the astonished eyes of scientists - a scene of hand-to-hand fighting carved on an agate stone.
This find was named "Pylos Agate". What amazed the scientists so? After all, glyptics - the art of carving on precious stones - has been found before.
"Pylos agate with a duel," as this seal began to be called, for it depicts a fierce hand-to-hand fight, not only promises to rewrite the history of ancient Greek art, but can also shed light on the myths and legends of that era of Western civilization, which is still shrouded in mystery.
Davis and Stoker say that the craftsmanship and meticulous attention to detail make the Pylos Duel Agate the most beautiful of the Aegean Bronze Age glyptics.
“It is amazing that the human bodies depicted have a level of detail and musculature that is no longer found before the Classical period of Greek art a thousand years later,” explained Davis. "This is an amazing find."
Even more striking, according to the couple of pioneers, is that the meticulously carved combat scene is painstakingly engraved on solid rock just 3.6 cm (just over 1.4 inches) long. Indeed, many of the print details, such as intricate weapon designs and jewelry, are visible only through the lens of a powerful camera and photomicroscope.
“Some parts are only half a millimeter in size,” Davis said. "They are inconceivably small."
The miniature masterpiece depicts a victorious warrior: having overthrown one unfortunate enemy, prostrate at his feet, he turns against another, much more formidable enemy, covered by a shield, and plunges a sword into his unprotected neck, inflicting, undoubtedly, the last and fatal blow.
Sketch from Pylos Agate.
In the above sketch of this work of art, you can see what amazing details the carver was able to depict with the help of those weak means of magnification that were available to him around 1500 BC. e. (and maybe even without them).
If we leave aside all the admiring epithets that can and should be showered on this miracle of art, the researchers believe that this seal gives us new and very important information about the Minoan culture and its interaction with the Mycenaeans, who so eagerly absorbed the Minoan culture and spread it throughout mainland Greece.
In several presentations and an article published last year, Davis and Stoker show that the discovery in the tomb of four gold seal rings with detailed Minoan iconography, as well as other treasures made by the Minoans, attests to a much deeper and more complex cultural exchange between the Mycenaeans. and the Minoans.
But, according to the researchers, the craftsmanship and sophistication of Pylos Agate with a duel cannot be compared with any find from the Minoan-Mycenaean world. And the more global question arises: how will this affect our understanding of Greek art of the Bronze Age?
“We never imagined that the Minoans were capable of creating such works of art, and they seem to have created them,” explained Davis. “This proves that we underestimated their ability and interest in the visual arts, especially movement and human anatomy. And in combination with stylized facial features, this in itself is something out of the ordinary."
Davis and Stoker say this discovery calls for a revision of the evolution and development of Greek art.
“This stamp should be included in all works of art history; it will change the way we view prehistoric art,”Stoker said.
Some believe that this was not a sketch of human bodies. It was an image with meticulously detailed details. Muscles, strands of hair, facial expressions, weapons, clothes - all the smallest details are visible on them.
Pylos agate under magnification.
What's so surprising about that?
It is not the first time that scientists have found such superbly executed works of ancient art. But for the first time, these masterpieces are so small in size. Scientists were able to examine all the details of Pylos agate mentioned by us under a microscope. Some carefully cut details are less than a millimeter and are not visible to the naked eye, but can only be seen under high magnification. But how did the master of the Bronze Age manage to inflict such a delicate carving, and even on a hard stone? It turns out that in those days (more than three and a half thousand years ago) the representatives of the Minoan civilization possessed the technologies that made it possible to make such elegant little things?
Does it mean that both great magnification and the finest instruments were available to them?
Defeated warrior. Pylos agate.
Quite possible. After all, the Minoans could have erected magnificent palaces, built five-story buildings, had hot and cold water supply, sewerage systems, baths, swimming pools and much, much more …
It turns out that Pylos agate is one more confirmation of the existence of civilizations many millennia ago, the level of development of which was incredibly high.
To learn more about the Tomb of the Griffin Warrior, see the site created by Davis, Stoker and the Pylossian Expedition for detailed documentation and rich content.