Feature Stories - Greece Uncovered
Ancient Olympic Chariot Racetrack Located? (National Geographic, 24.06.2008)
The ancient circuit, where Olympic competitors raced in chariots or on horseback and the emperor Nero competed for Olympian laurels, was found in May by a team of German researchers. The researchers located the site using geomagnetic technology, a method that allows archaeologists to trace ancient structural features hidden beneath the soil. Müller, a sports historian, declared the find "an archaeological sensation." Read more.... See also: |
As the Beijing Olympics draw near, archaeologists are reporting the discovery of the long-lost chariot race track at the Greek birthplace of the games. The hippodrome was identified at Olympia, in Western Greece, some 1,600 years after the historic sports venue disappeared under river mud. 
Archaeological site of Skarkos, Ios wins EU Prize for Cultural Heritage
The ruins of this important Early Bronze Age Cycladic settlement from the third millennium BC, have been conserved and restored and rural buildings have been renovated and converted into a multi-purpose visitor centre, a storehouse and a guesthouse for researchers. Read more… |
The six winners of the 2008 "
Skeleton May Show Ancient Brain Surgery
Site excavator Ioannis Graikos said: ''We interpret the find as a case of complicated surgery which only a trained and specialized doctor could have attempted.'' Furthermore Graikos said the find attested to the social and medical sophistication in Veria, which in the 3rd century A.D. -- during the period of Roman rule -- was one of Greece's main civic centers, and the capital of a federation of Macedonian cities. Read more: |
A Greek team of archaeologists have unearthed the skull of a young woman in northern Greece who is believed to have undergone head surgery in the third century.
Exploring a 'Lost' City of the Mycenaeans
An initial study of the site by Pullen and a colleague, Assistant Professor Tartaron, during May-June 2007 brought to light a settlement (Korphos-Kalamianos) built probably as a military or naval outpost. This summer, the researchers plan to return to the site to conduct underwater research along the shoreline in collaboratin with Greece's department of underwater antiquities. Pullen and Tartaron have named their three-year undertaking the Saronic Harbors Archaeological Research Project, or SHARP. Read more about this project: |
Along an isolated, rocky stretch on the shores of the Saronic Gulf, Florida State University researcher Daniel Pullen and his students are unlocking the secrets of a partially submerged, "lost" harbor town believed to have been built by the ancient Mycenaeans nearly 3,500 years ago. “This is really a remarkable find,” said Professor Pullen. “It is rare indeed to locate an entire town built during the Late Bronze Age that shows this level of preservation.”
Worship at Mt. Lykaion Predates Zeus
Ancient pottery found at an altar used by ancient Greeks to worship Zeus was actually in use at least a millennium earlier, new archeological data suggest. The finding, which dates back to 3000 B.C., indicates that the tradition of divinity worship on the site is very ancient and may even pre-date the introduction of Zeus into the Greek world. A rock crystal seal, bearing an image of a bull, of probable Late Minoan times (1500 - 1400 B.C.) also was found on the altar, suggesting an early connection between the Minoan isle of Crete and Arcadia. The Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project begun is a collaborative project of the Greek Archaeological Service, 39th Ephoreia in Tripolis, the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and the University of Arizona. The project boasts a Greek-American, interdisciplinary team of archaeologists, geologists, geophysicists, architects, topographical surveyors and students working throughout the site. More about the excavation:
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High in the Arcadian mountains, the sanctuary at Mt. Lykaion was one of the most famous Zeus shrines in ancient Greece, considered to be one of the mythological birthplaces of Zeus, the other being on Crete. Excavations by the Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project at Zeus's mountaintop "birthplace" suggest the site's ash altar was in use at least 5,000 years ago—a thousand years before the earliest known versions of the myth of the Greek god.
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