The archaeologist in charge of unearthing the burial mound in Amphipolis, northern Greece, spoke Thursday of her, and her collaborators' emotions at the discoveries, as she waded into a controversy about the dating of the mound.
"We broke down and cried when we saw the heads of the Caryatids. We have been through, and still go through, many moving moments. You just can't imagine (our reaction) when we faced those findings," Katerina Peristeri told reporters.
Peristeri sais she was convinced the burial mound dated from the last quarter of the 4th century BC (325-300 BC) and criticised some of her colleagues who have speculated that the monument could date from the Roman times. None of those archaeologists have been on-site.
"I am mad at those colleagues who, without knowing about the digging, or the Amphipolis site itself, speak to the papers and the TV,trying to have their five minutes of fame...To me, this is bad. It is an insult to the diggins, an insult to our research and an insult to the country. Because this digging is happening, not only to benefit archaeology, but also the country..." she said.
"This is not a Roman burial place, but a Macedonian one," Peristeri said, referring to the ancient Macedonians, who were a Greek tribe, and not the modern Slavic nation. As for the occupant, "it is too early to know."
There has been specualtin that the person buried inside is a relative, or wife, or general of the ancient Greek warrior Alexander the Great, who died in Babylon in 323 BC and was buried in Egypt.
