One of the missing heads and wing fragments from the two sphinxes at the entrance has been found... inside the third chamber! It obviously didn't fly in there by itself and it seems the best evidence so far that the tomb was entered and plundered at some point in the past.
The Sphinx’s head is intact, with minimal breakage on the nose. It has a height of 0.60m and it is assigned to the body of the eastern Sphinx. Made of marble, the head has signs of red color on its curly hair (falling onto its left shoulder) that is tied with a white stripe. It carries a pole and archaeologists characterize it as a sculpture of exceptional art.
In a press release, the Greek Culture Ministry underlined that the excavation is in full progress, having reached the entire surface of the third chamber (4.5m x 6m) in a depth of 5.20m from the tomb’s top. In the coming days, archaeologists have scheduled the removal of fallen limestones from the third tomb chamber’s interior and parts of a newly uncovered gate will be revealed.
Well it looks like the tomb has been plundered, yes. The thing is, it seemed a bit obvious from the start when they found a hole in the wall behind the sphinxes and then found that the two caryatids had been damaged. But the archaeologist leading the dig has always been quite insistent that the tomb hadn't been robbed. Seems she was wrong!
Gosh this is so exciting, the discoveries, the wonderment, the history.
Could it be Alexander's tomb?
People don't think so. One suggestion was that it was built for Alexander and then was used for someone else when he was buried elsewhere (although no-one seems sure exactly where that was). It could be Alexander's mother, or Roxanne, or a Macedonian general, or another theory is that no-one's buried there at all and it's just a sort of sacred area commemorating a battle or something!
The recent discovery of a large Alexander-era tomb at Kasta Tomb in Amphipolis northern Greece, has once again invited speculation about Alexander's final resting place. Some have speculated that it was built for Alexander but never used due to Ptolemy I Soter having seized the funeral cortege. They suggest that the Roman Emperor Caracalla, a great admirer of Alexander, may have had him re-interred in Amphipolis in the late second century AD. However, only future excavation at Amphipolis will reveal if there is any truth in the suggestion.
Nothing new from the tomb but a fascinating, in-depth article about what seems to have been the deliberate desecration of the tomb and the vandalising of the statuary:
It is also unambiguously clear that the sphinxes were deliberately mutilated. Although it is just possible that the heads and wings could have been dislodged by some natural accident, both breasts on both sphinxes have been very precisely hacked off. That must have been deliberate. Although it is less clear at the moment that fragments of the statues were found suspended in the fill, it is very likely that they were smashed on the same occasion as the doors.
Assuming that the various fragments were suspended in the fill, as is strongly implied by the latest photos, then in all probability the person who sealed up the tomb was the same person who had the statues decorating the tomb mutilated. Furthermore, the sealing and the mutilations must have happened at the same time. This is quite strange. Why would a tomb raider spend a lot of time and money diligently sealing up the tomb during the raid? Really, only some very important individual, most probably the ruler of Macedon, would conceivably have wished to seal the tomb so carefully.
But why would the ruler of Macedon have so disliked this tomb as to risk the censure of the Macedonians by mutilating its decorations and fittings? What happened to this tomb virtually requires that a ruler of Macedon detested the occupant of the tomb and also had reason to wish to prevent anybody gaining access to the remains within it.
That is a very specific set of circumstances. The most intriguing question is therefore how such circumstances could have transpired?
A terrible answer immediately presents itself from the pages of history, which further enhances the likelihood that this is the tomb of Alexander’s mother. On the assumption that it is Olympias’s tomb, a combined wrecking and sealing could have been perpetrated by Cassander after he had foully murdered Alexander IV and Roxane in 310BC.
I do agree with you to a certain extent. I love archaeology and history but it's hard not to feel uneasy when bodies are removed from their original burial sites. No-one would want people to dig up the remains of Elizabeth I or Henry VIII and put them in a museum or in a cardboard box on a shelf in a storeroom and yet we happily go and see Egyptian mummies or Iron Age skeletons that have been put on display.
Actually both OH and I would be very interested if they dug up Elizabeth 1, Henry Vlll etc and put them in a museum. They could examine the remains and discover a lot of things about their lives.
Certainly his tomb was known in Alexandria, Egypt in Roman times before being sealed up. I think it unlikely that his body was moved to Greece without it being recorded somewhere.
The excavation has been on-going for a while but the full extent of the tomb still seems to be unknown. Even more exciting is the possibility that the tomb wasn't looted in ancient times.
Nice website here with a lot of pix and the latest developments:
Comments
One of the missing heads and wing fragments from the two sphinxes at the entrance has been found... inside the third chamber! It obviously didn't fly in there by itself and it seems the best evidence so far that the tomb was entered and plundered at some point in the past.
http://greece.greekreporter.com/2014/10/21/missing-amphipolis-sphinx-head-discovered/
The head is a lovely piece of work though.
Could it be Alexander's tomb?
Well it looks like the tomb has been plundered, yes. The thing is, it seemed a bit obvious from the start when they found a hole in the wall behind the sphinxes and then found that the two caryatids had been damaged. But the archaeologist leading the dig has always been quite insistent that the tomb hadn't been robbed. Seems she was wrong!
People don't think so. One suggestion was that it was built for Alexander and then was used for someone else when he was buried elsewhere (although no-one seems sure exactly where that was). It could be Alexander's mother, or Roxanne, or a Macedonian general, or another theory is that no-one's buried there at all and it's just a sort of sacred area commemorating a battle or something!
Hopefully time will tell.
I think Akexander was buried in Egypt.
This is from the Wiki page on his tomb:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_of_Alexander_the_Great
http://greece.greekreporter.com/2014/10/26/is-the-mother-of-alexander-the-great-in-the-tomb-at-amphipolis-part-6-the-mutilation-of-the-sculpture/
Excerpt:
On the same subject, an underwater excavation been uncovered near greece:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-29797269.
Hmmm...Using metal to uncover a mosaic. Not very careful is it?
Actually both OH and I would be very interested if they dug up Elizabeth 1, Henry Vlll etc and put them in a museum. They could examine the remains and discover a lot of things about their lives.
http://www.theamphipolistomb.com/third-chamber
Yes! A skeleton has been found below the floor in the third chamber!
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30019338
However given the Greek economy it probably wont be long before their government changes that status and flogs it off.