A tomb estimated to have been constructed in about the 3rd or 4th century BCE is being excavated in the Kasta Hill, near Amphipolis, Greece. It appears to belong to someone of great standing and to be intact!
More info at this website: http://www.theamphipolistomb.com/
Facebook page: Amphipolis Tomb - Ο Τάφος της Αμφίπολης
The mosaic on the floor of the second chamber left me gobsmacked. I am in love with the caryatids.
That is really cool. Thanks for posting about this.
Oh, WOW. No matter who turns out to be buried there, this is incredible. Thank you so much for posting it.
Absolutely amazing - thanks for posting!
You should have mentioned that the excavation is quite advanced and that the site you’re linking to shows the work in progress.
I’m saying that because I assumed the link was to some article anouncing the begining of the excavation, that maybe in a couple years there would be something worth perusing, so at first I didn’t bother checking it.
[QUOTE=clairobscur]
You should have mentioned that the excavation is quite advanced and that the site you’re linking to shows the work in progress. {snip}
[/QUOTE]
Lol! You make a good point. So, to be extra-specific, work on the site is far more advanced than the English-language news media at first led me to believe. I finally tracked down a Greek source of news about the dig and now I run its articles through Google Translate. Not perfect, but more thorough and up-to-date coverage than the other sources I’d been reading.
Greek-language news site http://www.dikaiologitika.gr. Click on the tab that says “ΚΟΣΜΟΣ” (“world”) and search for articles that contain the word “Αμφίπολη” (Amphipoli). I thought Αμφίπολη had a hypertext/link/tag thingy, but of course, now that I want to tell folks about it, I can’t find it. :smack:
More cool stuff related to this dig:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHNqhGflskk (rendered before the 3[sup]rd[/sup] chamber [floor mosaic] was excavated)
3D interactive representation of Amphipolis Tomb - theAmphipolisTomb.com (in the back corner of the 3[sup]rd[/sup] chamber, you can just glimpse the door leading down to…we don’t know–yet!)
If I understand the Amphipolis tumulus situation correctly, the tomb discussed in this thread is not the only tomb in this hillock. But, I don’t have much info on how many other tombs there might be and who is thought to be buried in them. Although, if someone has definitive info on the subject, please let me know. I confess to being a bit confused about this issue.
[sub]TBH, I was surprised–make that “stunned”–that another 'Doper hadn’t already posted about this.[/sub]
I get the sense it hasn’t had a lot of English-language coverage till fairly recently. The History Blog, which would normally be all over something like this, first mentioned it only this August.
On 12 November, Alexis Bulgari posted to the above-linked facebook page his translation of excerpts from an official announcement regarding what was found in the third chamber.
"For non-Greeks: Excerpts of the official Greek Ministry of Culture press release dated November 12 (my translation):
«At a depth of 1.60 mt under the floor slabs still into place, a great cist grave was found, made of limestone. It measures externally 3.23 mts long, 1.56 mts wide and the preserved height is 1 mt. However upright elements have been found allowing us to estimate that the original height must have been at least 1.80 mts. Inside the grave there is a recess measuring 2.35 per 0.54 meters. This is where a wooden coffin was placed. Scattered iron and copper nails were found as well as bone and glass decorative elements of the coffin. Note that the overall height of the third chamber is 8.90 mts.
«The skeleton of the deceased has also been found, partly inside and partly outside the coffin. All the research made possible by the most advanced scientific methods will be carried out.
«The burial complex on Kasta Hill is a public work, for its construction the finest marble has been used, as it never ocurred before in Macedonia. The height of the tomb is 33 meters… Therefore, this monument is a highly accurate and extremely costly construction, unlikely to have been underwritten by an individual. This is probably a public monument dedicated to a “hero”, that is a mortal who was a devotional figure in the society of his time; the Deceased must therefore have been an extremely prominent personality. This is the only way to explain the construction of this unique burial complex.
«On November 22nd, the Minister of Culture will give an interview about the findings and the works that will be undertaken next.
«On November 29th chief archaeologist Ms. Katerina Peristeri will present the results of the excavation in the Auditorium of the Ministry of Culture in Athens.»
Awesome find. 
I’m following this with interest …
Wow, even the retaining wallis amazing.
I find it interesting that there seem to be no inscriptions at all. What’s up with that?
Wow. It’s just so incredible to imagine ancient people measuring and slotting the stones into place, carving the decorations, designing the archways . . .
And those mosaics are unbelievable.
[QUOTE=lisiate]
{snip} I find it interesting that there seem to be no inscriptions at all. What’s up with that?
[/QUOTE]
I don’t know about inscriptions, but I fear that any wall paintings which may have existed have had their organic paints decomposed by the earth that filled the chambers. 
If I understand the Greek news articles (thanks Google Translate!) correctly, the tomb appears to have been robbed twice. I don’t know if the body of the interred person was moved outside the coffin by human, flood or other natural agent(s). I’ll just have to wait until the official presentations two weeks from now to have some of my questions answered.