As I have said before it slightly worries me that people are overly associating me with Amphipolis, and I am happy to explain points, but … I will wait until Katerina Peristeri presents the amazing finds on the 29th, and she reveals Act One of the great Saga of Amphipolis.
Todays press release (here) added this information:
Σύμφωνα με τον Υπουργό Πολιτισμού, with the maintenance work uncovered the first suspected human representations in epistylia found in the third space. At the moment has become the first cleaning of epistyles and will follow and laser processing, and other procedures. “If you hurry up, you risk making errors that can be decisive”, the Minister emphasised, who wanted to say in this way that don't hide something, just the revelations made so slowly anyway and is not just a matter of someone new find, αλλά και η ίδια η διαδικασία της συντήρησης θα συνεχίσει να αποκαλύπτει πράγματα. “Αυτή είναι και η γοητεία της αρχαιολογίας”, reported
The description of the first human representations in friezes in the third room, and that they are being treated with lasers, suggests to me that they were painted. Similar painted figures were found inside the tomb of Hecatomnus, and unlike the sculptures these kinds of paintings can fade and vanish quickly if they are not treated correctly.
Also this paragraph suggest that I may have been correct in my assumption that filling the rooms with soil was partly to stop them collapsing:
Ο κύριος Τασούλας, θέλοντας να δείξει τις δυσκολίες που είχε να αντιμετωπίσει η ομάδα σε σχέση με τις στερεωτικές διαδικασίες, said: “The soil inside the Tomb, during the years, played a role fixative for the monument. The removal of soil affect the support, and ypostylwseis had to be done in such a way as to provide exactly the same support on the walls every time, neither more nor less.”
As I keep saying, the team at Amphipolis is one of the best in the world. In times of crisis, and Greece has been going through a horrible period, it is natural to doubt everyone in authority, but please do not doubt that Katerina Peristeri and Michaelis Lefantzis are doing an exceptional job at Amphipolis.
Source: phdiva
