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Modern Description: Organized site, open in summer, (confirm 25520 96033). The excavation of the burial tumulus of Mikri Doxipara-Zoni was started in 2002 by the 19th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities of Thrace, the regional subsidiary of the Ministry of Culture. The archaeologists in charge were Diamantis Triandafillos, then director of the Ephorate and Domna Terzopoulou. The work to date has been funded completely by the Ministry of Culture. It was a rescue excavation, since in the past there had been many attempts to destroy the tumulus and plunder the contents. Numerous chips and fragments of worked marble, which were scattered over the surface of the tumulus, led to the initial suggestion that it covered a built tomb or sarcophagus. This hypothesis was not confirmed and it is now believed either that there was a built monument on the summit of the tumulus, which had been totally destroyed, or that a monument had existed in, or close by, the location that was later covered by the tumulus. The excavation began on the 9th September 2002 and a few days later the wheels of the first wagon were uncovered. Four-wheeled wagons, buried with or without their horses, have been found in many areas of Europe and Asia. The discovery at the tumulus of Mikri Doxipara-Zoni is the first in Greece. The excellent state of preservation of the wagons and the skeletons of the horses, as well as the presence of wood impressions from two of the wagons, offer a unique and particularly vivid picture, which we have attempted to preserve by every way at our disposal. The excavation continued, under very difficult circumstances, throughout 2003. Four further wagons, five additional horse burials and four large pits, which contained the remains of the cremation burials and the many gifts which had been offered by relatives to accompany the dead into the afterlife, were gradually revealed. Light shelters were constructed for the protection of the wagons, the horse burials and the cremations against the weather. Under these the patient tasks of cleaning and uncovering were carried out until the excavation was completed in 2004. Today the whole of the tumulus has been removed. The wagons and the horse skeletons are still in situ, while the finds have been removed from the cremation burials. The conservation of the wagons and the small finds from the cremations is in progress and a fully equipped conservation laboratory has been created on site. (www.mikridoxipara-zone.gr)
Wikidata ID: Q12885570

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