A farmer in Crete stumbled upon a large tomb, which dates back to the Minoan civilisation, completely by accident.
Pulling up to park his vehicle underneath an olive tree in Kentri Ierapetra on the Greek island, the over-irrigated earth beneath his vehicle gave way, and revealed a carved tombstone underneath.
Archaeologists were called, who discovered the tombstone dated back to the late Minoan period – around 1,400BCE.
As well as the stone, the archaeologists found a large tomb, which had remained undisturbed, holding two adult skeletons and around 24 vases with coloured embossings and depictions on them.
Yannis Papadatos, professor of archaeology at the University of Athens, with Chrysa Sofianou, head of the Lassithi Ephorate of Commerce, and a team of 15 students from various archaeology schools have launched an excavation of the site, as Greek Reporter states.
Sofianou said:
[It] is a unique vaulted tomb, four meters long, which does not refer to the burial of a lord of that period, but of the Late Minoan III period (1500-1400 BC) to a common mortal.
Argyris Pantazis, deputy mayor of Local Communities, Agrarian and Tourism of Ierapetra, said:
We are particularly pleased with this great archaeological discovery as it is expected to further enhance our culture and history. Indeed, this is also a response to all those who doubt that there were Minoans in Ierapetra.
Soil retreat was a result of the watering of the olive trees in the area as well as a broken irrigation tube. The ground had partially receded, and when the farmer tried to park in the shade of the olive tree, he then completely retreated the soil below. Archaeologists were immediately called up and … it was discovered that this is a serious archaeological find.
Greek Ministry of CultureEarlier this year, a 30-tonne, 2,000-year-old sarcophagus was found in Alexandria, Egypt, during an excavation.
Though at first archaeologists were hopeful it contained the remains of Alexander the Great, inside they actually found three decomposed mummies and some seriously filthy sewage water.
The find dates back to the Ptolemaic period, between 305BCE and 30BCE, and at 185cm tall, 265cm long and 165cm wide, it is thought to be the largest sarcophagus ever found in Alexandria.
Though the coffin was sealed when it was discovered, it is believed a small crack allowed water to seep inside.
Strangely, however, this didn’t put some people off wanting to get in on the supernatural action associated with such ancient burial customs.
AFP/Getty ImagesIn fact, some people wanted to go so far as to drink the murky liquid found inside the coffin, and even started an online petition to allow them to do so.
According to their petition, those who want to drink the unholy mixture of human excrement and corpse juice believe drinking the red liquid will allow whoever consumes it to ‘assume its powers and finally die’.
They wrote:
We need to drink the red liquid from the cursed dark sarcophagus in the form of some sort of carbonated energy drink so we can assume its powers and finally die.
Insider reports people were not allowed to drink the sarcophagus liquid after it was reported it was more likely to be sewage water than wine.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.