A tiny gemstone that was discovered in a tomb dated with more than 3,500 years holds a masterpiece of the ancient Greek, engraved on it.
The gemstone was found among other more than 1,400 treasures in the tomb of an unknown Bronze Age man, in Pylos, Greece. The discovery challenged the scientists for the last three years as they have no clue on how the engravings were made on such a small piece.
The very detailed engraving on the stone depicts a battle scene
When the gemstone has been observed for the time, many questions started to arise in the minds of Jack Davis and Sharon Stocker, the discoverers of the object. The engraving is presenting the final scene of a battle between two men with one stabbing the other with his sword.
The founders of the object are still questioning about who were those men, and what’s the connection between the object and the ancient Greek in whose tomb was the object found.
It is hard to replicate such an artwork, even today
The tiny gemstone, named Pylos Combat Agate, presents a very detailed engraving that would be hard to replicate without the use of modern technology. But that’s exactly what Goldsmith Akis Goumas tries to do.
Goumas emitted a theory according to which two men were involved in the creation of the tiny artwork. Accordingly, one man has done the three-dimensional engraving, while another has completed the work sealing the masterpiece for eternity.
Even though, he can’t explain exactly how the artwork has been done with the technology of those time, as we’re talking about the Bronze Age.
Such ‘sealstones’ were common in ancient Greek
Even if the object is unique in terms of details and manufacturing techniques, ‘sealstones’ or ‘stone stamps’ were used in ancient Greek to mark the identity and ownership rights of important individuals.
Anyways, the importance of the ancient Greek artwork graved on a small gemstone is huge as it is, once again, showing us how little we know about the capabilities and technology that were used in those ancient times.
