Athens, (Greece): Archaeologists in Greece have stumbled upon a rare piece of fabric inside a copper urn from a burial they speculated imitated the elaborate cremation of soldiers described in Homer’s Iliad.
The yellowed, brittle material was found in the urn during excavation in the southern town of Argos, a Culture Ministry announcement said on Wednesday.
Archaeologist Alkistis Papadimitriou, who headed the dig, said: “This is an extremely rare find, as fabric is an organic material which decomposes very easily.” She said only a handful of such artefacts have been found in Greece.
The cylindrical urn also contained dried pomegranates — offerings linked with the ancient gods of the underworld — along with ashes and charred human bones from an early 7th century B C cremation.
Papadimitriou said the material was preserved for 2,700 years by the corroding copper urn. Conservation experts from Athens will work on the fragile find.
“Our first concern is to save it,” Papadimitriou said. “Afterwards, it will undergo laboratory tests to tell us about the precise fabric and weaving techniques.”
The burial was the only cremation among a half-dozen closely grouped graves found on the plot, which was scheduled for development.
The poet’s Iliad and Odyssey enjoyed huge popularity throughout Greece. Composed during the 8th century B C, and thought to be inspired by a war four centuries earlier, the Iliad describes slain heroes being cremated in elaborate funerals, which fell out of fashion in later times.