Ancient Greek Palace Near Sparta Gives Glimpses Into Mycenean Culture
Near Sparta, archaeologists have dug up an ancient palace on a significant site of excavations since 2009, according to The Guardian.
The palace was discovered on the hill of St. Basil, an important archaeological spot where excavations have been conducted since 2009.
It is a 10-room building complex that has been attributed to the Mycenean age. Experts feel that it was built between the 17th and 16th centuries B.C., according to the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, Education and Religious Affairs.
The excavation thus brings to light the city that is one of the most famous from ancient Greece.
Many items were found at the site, including some objects used for devotion. They included an ivory figure of a man with a young bull and a clay rhyton in the shape of a bull's head and more objects such as "Egyptian scarabs, 20 bronze swords, pottery, gems and animal bones".
All the objects seem to point to Mycenaean's "clear position as the elite seat of an urban center with trade connections throughout the ancient world," according to the ministry.
It was in the 14th century BC that the palace seemed to have been burnt down. But while on the one hand a fire destroyed the building, it also helped to preserve clay tablets with inscriptions in the Linear B script.
This is the first recorded Greek language, and the script on the tablets will point towards "new information on the beliefs and language systems of the Mycenaean people," according to the ministry.
While excavation here is not expected to be finished in this generation, experts are digging trenches around it in order to keep it from getting destroyed. You can see some of its famous objects here at Live Science.
