Excavations in the mysterious tomb of Amphipolis seem to have hit the big wall of deadlock. After having horizontally dug through three chambers, archeologists realized that there is no a fourth chamber, no sarcophagus, no bones of the deceased, no… nothing. so, the whole of the huge tomb was set up for just four sculptures and a mosaic?
“There is no other chamber. What we said about the 4th chamber was not proven,” chief archaeologist at Amphipolis excavation Katerina Peristeri said adding “We said that the excavation will show whether there would be a fourth chamber or not. There was one geological section and there were thoughts that there maybe was a little door, an opening. That was not the case. We work on the 3rd chamber and wait to see what it will show us.”
Speaking to ANT1 TV on Thursday morning, Archaeology Professor Christina Paliadeli expressed the hope that further excavations may find some bones, even bones of tomb thieves.” Such bones would allow archaeologists “to approach the identity of the dead in the tomb,” she stressed.
Of course, archaeologists and the public cannot easily accept that a tomb of 158-meter diameter was set up just for a few sculptures, including the impressive Lion statue on the top that it certainly hints to a king. The excavation has worked inside the tomb only 25 meters.
Archaeologist Kostas Soueref expressed the view that also the rest of “the perimeter of the tomb should be excavated in order to determine if there were other graves there as well.”
Speaking to state NERIT TV, Soueref said that he agrees with the assessment of the excavation team that ” there must be other chambers on different levels.”
While archaeologists started digging vertically for several years full of anticipation to come, the Greek Culture Ministry expressed its satisfaction for the findings as they proved of the uniqueness of the tomb.
PS The usual “mean Greeks” may claim that our ancient ancestors had originally planned to build a huge tomb for an extraordinary personality but plans were cancelled when they heard of the Unified Property Tax (ENFIA). At the same time, the “mean Greeks” wonder what will be the next archaeological site to be used as propaganda tool by Samaras’ coalition government.
…and the big question remains: was the Amphipolis tomb built in the model of a local … Trojan Horse?
