Sometime between 1400 and 1200 B.C., two men were laid to rest, in an underground enclosure.Both were entombed in intricately embossed clay coffins, and surrounded by colorful funerary vases, that hinted at their owners’ high status.
The burial site was sealed with stone masonry and forgotten, leaving the deceased undisturbed for roughly 3,400 years.
Until 2018, when a local farmer accidentally brought the pair’s millennia-long rest, to an abrupt end….
The farmer was attempting to park his vehicle beneath a shaded olive grove on his property, when the ground gave way.As he started to drive off, he noticed a four-foot-wide hole had appeared.
Peering over the edge of the gaping space, the man realized he’d unintentionally unearthed something wonderful!
Archaeologists from the local heritage ministry, Lassithi Ephorate of Antiquities, launched excavations below the farmer’s olive grove in southeast Crete.They identified the Minoan tomb, nearly perfectly preserved despite its advanced age, in a pit measuring roughly four feet across and eight feet deep.
In the northernmost niche, archaeologists found a coffin and an array of vessels scattered across the ground.The southernmost niche yielded a second sealed coffin, as well as 14 ritual Greek amphorae and a bowl.
The high quality of the funery goods left in the tomb, indicated the individuals buried, were relatively affluent!