Calamos Supports Greece
GreekReporter.comGreek NewsGreek Archaeologist's Discovery Included Among 2011 Top Findings

Greek Archaeologist’s Discovery Included Among 2011 Top Findings

Discovering the oldest written record in Europe makes for a pretty good year. When it is recognized as one of the year’s top findings, you can say it was a stellar year.

University of Missouri – St. Louis archaeologist Michael Cosmopoulos can now check both of those accomplishments off his “bucket list.” The tablet, unearthed last year during a dig in Greece by Cosmopoulos, the Hellenic Government Karakas Family Endowed Professor of Greek Studies at UMSL, and his team, has now been named one of the top 10 discoveries of 2011 by the Greek press.

The list was compiled and published Jan. 8 by To Vima, a Greek daily newspaper. The tablet is featured among other great Greek discoveries in 2011 such as a 2,500 – year – old wooden figurine discovered in the temple of Artemis at Vravrona, an etching of Minoan hieroglyphic writing, a marble statue in the Little Theatre of Ancient Epidaurus and a small gold object that represents a human eye identical to that on the gold, funerary mask of Tutankhamen, found in a bottomless grave in the necropolis of Ancient Eleftherna Crete.

The discovery of the tablet changed the existing knowledge on the origin of literacy and bureaucracy in the Western world. The rare artifact was unearthed at a site in Iklaina, which sits in the middle of an olive grove in southwest Greece. Each summer Cosmopoulos returns to the dig site with a team of about 40 – 60 students from UMSL and other universities, and 25-30 staff and specialists.

“This discovery is the biggest surprise in years of excavation. It was found in a burned refuse dump dated to between 1450 and 1350 B.C.,” Cosmopoulos said.

(source: UMSL Daily)

See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!



Related Posts