Archaeologists in Thrace have discovered a 2,000-year-old wooden cart in an excellent state of preservation in the tomb of a local Roman grandee.

The find, the only one of its kind so far in Greece, is to be presented at a three-day conference on last year’s archaeological work in Macedonia and Thrace, which opens in Thessaloniki on Thursday.

A team working under archaeologist Diamantis Triandafyllos uncovered the four-wheeled cart, which was decorated with bronze ornaments and buried along with the two horses that drew it, in a large tumulus near the village of Mikri Doxipara, some 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) west of Orestias and close to the Bulgarian border.

Most of the wooden structure has survived, as well as the cart and horses’ bronze trappings and the four iron wheels. Triandafyllos believes the grave belonged to a local landowner or imperial official. The conference will be held at the University of Thessaloniki.