Road project strikes tomb
A new road project on the outskirts of Volos in central Greece has revealed what appears to be an intact, unplundered Mycenaean royal tomb, a report said yesterday. The subterranean tholos tomb was found along with four or five small, box-like cist tombs during construction of a new Volos ring road, according to the Ethnos daily. Archaeologists have not yet entered the tholos tomb – a monumental structure of the same type as the famous «Tomb of Atreus» at Mycenae, which would have contained the remains of a local ruler. The paper quoted local antiquities director Vassiliki Adrymi as saying the burial appeared to be unplundered by grave robbers. «According to initial indications, this great funerary monument is sealed and has not been plundered,» she said. «We believe it is 6.5 meters high and 8 meters in diameter.» This would be about half the size of the Atreus tomb. At nearby Dimini, some 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) west of Volos, Adrymi has excavated a Mycenaean settlement associated with Iolkos, city of the mythical hero Jason.
