Grave of ‘Griffin Warrior’ at Pylos Could Be a Gateway to Civilizations

Grave of ‘Griffin Warrior’ at Pylos Could Be a Gateway to Civilizations

by Nicholas Wade, October 26, 2015

This article discusses an archaeological find at the site of the city of Pylos that could possibly lead to new discoveries about the link between ancient civilizations. The author describes the find—the grave of a warrior buried with a yard-long bronze sword and a collection of gold rings—and discusses its potential for shedding light on the emergence of the Mycenaean civilization. The author goes on to describe the significance of the grave: the warrior was buried around 1500 BC next to the site on Pylos which, many years later, arose the palace of Nestor (a large administrative center during the Mycenaean civilization that was destroyed in 1180 BC). Similar palaces were found all over the Greek mainland, and all borrowed heavily from the Minoan civilization that arose on the island of Crete, southeast of Pylos. The Minoans were culturally dominant to the Mycenaeans but were later overrun by them. One of the largest questions about these blended cultures was how the Minoan culture passed to the Mycenaeans, and this new archaeological find might possess answers. James C. Wright, the director of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens believes the grave lives “at the date at the heart of the relationship of the mainland culture to the higher culture of Crete” and will help scholars understand how the state cultures that developed in Crete were adopted into what became the Mycenaean palace culture on the mainland. The warrior, he believes, whose grave objects are culturally Minoan but whose place of burial is Mycenaean, lies at the center of the cultural transfer between the two states.

This discovery helps uncover the link between Minoan and Mycenaean cultures, which will lead to a more detailed account of Greece’s past. Because of this find, archaeologists are now looking into studying the tomb with modern techniques such as DNA analysis, which may shed light on the warrior’s origin. This and other techniques will allow far more information to be extracted from this grave site than was possible with more primitive technology used in the past. The way archaeologists uncover the past is advancing, and will help to gain a deeper understanding about our past.

This article was informative and interesting, but lacked structure. The author jumps from point to point without much detail or explanation, and does not define the technical archaeological and historical terms unknown to most readers. The author also ends the article abruptly, which was disappointing because I would have liked a final summary or reflection on the piece to tie it together. Though these pieces were lacking, I ultimately enjoyed reading and analyzing this article — it was informative and interesting, and helped me to gain an understanding of a topic that I had yet to learn about.

Wade, Nicholas. "Grave of ‘Griffin Warrior’ at Pylos Could Be a Gateway to Civilizations." The New York Times. The New York Times, 26 Oct. 2015. Web. 29 Oct. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/27/science/a-warriors-grave-at-pylos-greece-could-be-a-gateway-to-civilizations.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront>.