The Sphinxes Guarding the Lion Tomb Entrance at Amphipolis

[Xenophon]

Whilst it might have been possible to 're-assemble' the skeleton for photographic purposes, the one in the photo appears to be 'in situ', yet we are told the individual bones were removed complete with their surrounding soil. This was to avoid contamination issues whilst DNA testing was undertaken ( despite there being nothing at present to compare any recovered DNA with).

As far as I know, that testing is still in progress, and only afterward could the skeleton be cleaned and possibly re-assembled.
Yet another reason to believe the photo is not in fact of the Katsas skeleton................

[gepd]

In the magazine 'History'(n.45, January 2015), Professor Emanuele Greco, headmaster of the Italian Archaeological School of Athens said: "I have heard it is the skeleton of a male adult, but for definite results we have to wait. We need many months to get the DNA, and we haven't any safe descendants of Alexander or other personality of that age to compare with" (p.45).
Relata refero.

Hi hiphys. To which magazine do you refer exactly? Is it a greek one ("Ιστορία") or an English/Italian one maybe? There are too many magazines with "History" in their title...

[hiphys]

It is the BBC History UK, published by Sprea International under licence from Immediate Media Company Bristol Limited (Italian version: www.bbchistory.it).

[Zebedee]

New press release (link) says that the detail about this skeleton will be announced in January and that it now forms part of a much broader study into 300 skeletal remains dating from c.1000 BC to c.200 BC found previously at Amphipolis.

[Taphoi]

New press release (link) says that the detail about this skeleton will be announced in January and that it now forms part of a much broader study into 300 skeletal remains dating from c.1000 BC to c.200 BC found previously at Amphipolis.

The press release from the ministry is a non-denial denial of leaks on the internet that the skeleton is a woman aged 54. Provided the dating to 325-300BC is correct, that would mean Olympias.

A true denial would state that the examination has not taken place or that the skeleton is not that of a 54 year old woman. But a non-denial denial pours scorn upon a leak without actually saying that it is not true. This is a classic non-denial denial, but it does confirm that an examination probably has taken place and there probably are results, because they could not otherwise be sure that they would have results to announce in January.

The leak is reported here for example:
http://www.newsbomb.gr/ellada/politismo ... ahoo-feeds
One of the original places was on this blog: http://amfipolinews.blogspot.gr/

Best wishes,
Andrew

[gepd]

News media also report that announcements about the tumulus sounding will be announced today.

Until more news are available, here are some more articles/opinions/speculation on the matter:

http://www.elenikyriacou.com/#!AMPHIPOL ... 88BD7CA07C

https://helepolisarch.wordpress.com/201 ... mphipolis/

[Zebedee]

The press release from the ministry is a non-denial denial of leaks on the internet that the skeleton is a woman aged 54. Provided the dating to 325-300BC is correct, that would mean Olympias.

A true denial would state that the examination has not taken place or that the skeleton is not that of a 54 year old woman. But a non-denial denial pours scorn upon a leak without actually saying that it is not true. This is a classic non-denial denial, but it does confirm that an examination probably has taken place and there probably are results, because they could not otherwise be sure that they would have results to announce in January.

If you follow the Greek media then you'll see that 'reliable sources' within the ministry have already refuted the rumours that this is a 54 year old woman - and to be fair, anyone able to establish a precise age of death down to the year really should be doing lottery readings not looking at old bones. Either the Greek ministry of culture is going to look very silly come January or they may just be telling the truth that one shouldn't listen to everyone tempted to write about the tomb. As it stands, I found the press release more important for setting a much firmer time for an announcement of interest. I'm sure the blog which started the rumour is very grateful for the traffic all the same.

[agesilaos]

That also pre-supposes that the only royal Fifty something woman to die in Macedonia was Olympias, which is unlikely. This is just a case of a leak manufactured to fit a theory, let's wait for the announcement.

[ΙΑΠΕΤΟΣ]

Just to tie up a loose end (I am not very fond of them).

@ΞΕΝΟΦΩΝ Dec 11th: my 1.80m remark came from one of the Ministry's announcments concerning the dimentions of the cyst. It stated that it was about 1.80m deep.

On another issue - someone questioned the relevance of the Sphinxes to the contemporary (at the time) Macedonian art/culture - I'd like to point out 3 things:
(1) The Sphinxes were highly linked to the worship of Dionysus - they protected his shrines, they guarded his treasures, they haunted those who thought ill of him
(2) We have multiple examples of them being used in Macedonian burial furniture as decorative elements - alongside Griffins bringing down deer &
(3) The Sphinx was the image of choice to denote the burial of a young male who was "taken" ahead of his time - in his prime.

I think, all 3 elements are at play here....

[Efstathios]

Tovima.gr posted some news two days ago about the geo-survey showing further possible structures, and that the data are analyzed in order to construct a more clear picture. So, i guess they will officially announce the results when the data have been analyzed, but don't expect an image to be released. I expect it though to be in accordance with Polymenakos' survey and analysis but more detailed.

[agesilaos]

http://www.tovima.gr/en/article/?aid=660895

Should be a link to the English version.

[gepd]

There you go - that's a release from yesterday.

http://www.theamphipolistomb.com/news/40



Some basic info:

-The tomography was carried out in the immediate vicinity of the chambers, towards the north.
-Most of the scanned area is part of the natural hill formation.
-At the bottom of the image, you see lines of what appear to be traces of the chambers. The first one with dashed lines is for the chamber with the mosaic, the 2nd is for the burial chamber, the third one (solid lines) is nothing that has been documented in press releases.
-All these traces are wider than the 4.5 width of the excavated chambers. The first is about 9.8 m, the second around 7.6 m, the third is about the same.
-As stated in the PR, the scan revealed that the whole chamber structure was built in a trench excavated in the hill. I assume the lines indicate the size of the trench (since they are wider-longer than the known chambers).
-The trench probably extends more to the north, but that gives a less clear signal than near the excavated chambers.
-Magenta triangles on the diagram indicate locations where the natural hill intersects the northern-most extension of the trench.
- Within or near the boundary there are 4 points of interest P1-P4. Those appeared at a scan at the 93 m level, before any excavation.
- Excavation of some of these areas revealed that at least one (I think P1) is due to a pile-up of sand a low-depth from the hill surface
- Excavations and examinations of other points will proceed when weather conditions are favourable. There are more points of interest than shown in this diagram.

P4 looks the most promising feature, P3 is not included in the areas excavated, as shown in the photo below the scan diagram.

[Taphoi]

AmphipolisLionSanta.jpg (75.1 KiB) Viewed 6337 times

[Taphoi]

The osteoarchaeologists refrained from speculating about who the people might have been, and didn’t comment on a genetic or other link among the skeletons. But anonymous ‘scholars of the Ministry of Culture’, without citing any specific evidence, said that ‘the most likely scenario points to Olympias.’

http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2015/01/22/ya ... macedonia/

Best wishes.
Andrew

[agesilaos]

And sources that wish to remain anonymous with out citing any evidence say it must be the tooth-fairy! Unnattrubuted gossip based on no evidence is hardly a strong prop for your theory; someone throw that man a straw!