Archaeologists excavating the widely plundered Mycenaean-era cemetery in Aidonia, outside of Nemea in the Peloponnese region of southern Greece have discovered a fully intact, undisturbed tomb from the Early Mycenean period (1650-1400 B.C.). The ellipsoid chamber tomb is one of the largest ever found in Aidonia, measuring more than 20 feet at its widest points.

The cemetery was first discovered by looters in 1976 who plundered it with such ferocity that gun fights broke out between rival looting gangs. Local authorities were bribed and priceless archaeological treasures were secretly smuggled out of Greece, including stuffed in watermelons. When Greece put guards on the site and official excavations began in 1978, the looting petered off (although there is evidence that new tombs were plundered in the early 2000s).

During those first excavations, 20 chamber tombs were found, 18 of them stripped bare by looters. The tombs were carved out of living rock and were consistent in design. They had three sections: the road leading to the tomb, the opening or entranceway and the burial chamber. Inside the burial chamber were multiple pits dug into the floor and covered with large stone slabs. These are where bodies were interred with their grave goods, often a rich assemblage of pottery, precious metals and jewelry.

The newly-discovered tomb has four large pits carved into the floor, each covered with megalithic slabs. The earliest of the burials included clay tableware and storage vessels. They were decorated with stylized representations of plant and marine life, motifs typical of the “Palace Style” believed to be descended from Cretan art at Knossos. Archaeologists also discovered copper knives and swords, copper, obsidian and pyrite arrowheads, jewelry, an amethyst and gold bead necklaces, pins and seal stones.

The tomb continued to be used into the late Mycenaean period (ca. 1400-1200 B.C.) when the deceased were interred on the floor of the tomb rather than in carved pits. These were more simple burials with little in the way of grave goods. The collapse of the stone roof of the tomb ended its reuse for new burials and obscured its location thereby protecting it from interference, not just from modern-day looters, but from successive occupiers of the site from the Classical period through the Roman Empire through the Late Byzantine. They all used the cemetery (not knowing that’s what it was) and built over the tomb. The subsequent deposits helped keep it safe, its contents intact for archaeologists to discover.

The excavation of Pompeii’s Regio V section has unearthed a house with an exquisite series of frescoes and a large shrine, one of the largest ever found in Pompeii. It is being called “the house of the enchanted garden” because of the rich wall paintings which retain their vibrant colors and have suffered surprisingly little damage from being buried in a cataclysmic volcanic eruption in 79 A.D.

The only part of the house that has been excavated so far is the entrance, an open garden space where the lararium, a shrine to the guardian spirits of the household (the lares), was located in the center of riot of frescoed beauty. On each side of the shrine are green plants with small birds hovering over them and alighting on the branches. Under the lararium is a pair of large, sinuous snakes, wound around leafy plants, facing each other with their heads raised. Between them is an altar with a pinecone, a symbol of eternal life. Underneath the snakes is a garden scene with peacocks and yellow flowers (daffodils?).

To the right of the lararium wall is a fresco painted against a full-coverage brilliant red background. In a remarkable dynamic scene, a black wild boar is attacked by a variety of gold and white animals — dogs and what appear to be dear and a horse. Next to it, across from the lararium, is another Pompeiian red wall painted with floral motifs. Another peacock stands proudly against a yellow ochre background.

Snakes are often depicted in lararia because they were considered protectors of the home. The well-known lararium in the House of the Vetti depicts the lares, the genius (the spirit of the paterfamilias) and serpent winding under the three of them. Like the House of the Vetti’s lararium, the newly-discovered one is built to resemble a small temple affixed to the wall. The Vetti shrine’s temple framework is stucco carved with Corinthian columns and a pediment with a highly decorative frieze, but no paint is extant.

The temple surround of the enchanted garden’s lararium, on the other hand, is painted in deep red hues with vertical stripes, swirls, floral garlands and triangles on the columns and pediment. On each side of the central niche are lares, also painted red. The niche’s background, if it had one, is lost. At the foot of the shrine is a terracotta vessel that still contains the burned remains of an offerings, perhaps even the final desperate attempt of the homeowners to petition for rescue from Vesuvius’ wrath during the pumice fall that preceded the final destruction of the pyroclastic flows.

That very moment is captured poignantly by a less overtly glamorous part of the house: a window, its iron grate still intact. Behind the grate are pumice rocks. They fill every nook and cranny of the space, mute witnesses to that first stage of the eruption in which the rain of stone poured in through windows and doorways until the interiors were crammed with stones. This beautiful garden was no exception. When the room up to the top of the window was filled with lapilli, the stones filled the space above the window ledge.

Archaeologists will continue to excavate this splendid domus which has at least two more rooms to explore. They will also dig into a small well found at the base of the lararium wall. It’s filled with stones from the eruption now, but wells can be archaeological treasure chests because people toss all kinds of things in them and the water helps preserve them.

Saga Vanecek was skipping rocks at her family’s summer home on the shores of Vidöstern lake in Tånnö, southern Sweden, when she spotted something metallic in the shallow water. She pulled it out and saw that it had a hilt and a pointy end and hollered to her father that she’d found a sword. She had indeed, but Saga had little idea just how proud she’d done her name.

Her family contacted archaeologist Annie Rosén at Jönköping County Museum. She determined that it dates to the Iron Age and is at least 1,000 years old, probably closer to 1,500 years old. The sword is rusted from many centuries under water and will need conservation, but even so museum experts have been able to discern that it is a metal and wood sword in very good condition.

“It’s about 85 centimentres [33.5 inches] long, and there is also preserved wood and metal around it,” explained Mikael Nordström from the museum. “We are very keen to see the conservation staff do their work and see more of the details of the sword.”

Anyone hoping to see the sword will have to wait at least a year, Nordström told The Local, explainig [sic]: “The conservation process takes quite a long time because it’s a complicated environment with wood and leather, so they have several steps to make sure it’s preserved for the future.”

“Why it has come to be there, we don’t know,” he said. “When we searched a couple of weeks ago, we found another prehistoric object; a brooch from around the same period as the sword, so that means – we don’t know yet – but perhaps it’s a place of sacrifice. At first we thought it could be graves situated nearby the lake, but we don’t think that any more.”

Meanwhile, Saga has become the toast of her class, and she more than deserves after keeping her fantastic find secret for months. Museum archaeologists asked her to bite her tongue so they could explore the lake without having to fend off treasure hunters.

Saga confirmed to The Local that the only person she told was her best friend, who she really trusts. Thursday was the first day she could reveal her story to her classmates, and her teacher threw a party to celebrate, handing out ice creams and showing Saga’s TV and radio interviews to the class.

“They thought that it was very fun and interesting to know about my story,” said Saga.

I hope I could have been as discrete as she is when I was eight, but I’m pretty sure I would have blabbed. I doff my cap at thee, Saga.