Several artifacts have also been recovered at the site

Aug 25, 2015 18:04 GMT  ·  By

Researchers in Greece have been exploring the site of Aghios Vassilios Hill near Sparta since 2009, and as it turns out, their efforts have more than paid off. 

Thus, this Tuesday, high officials announced the discovery of an ancient palace at this archaeological site in southern Greece.

The palace is millennia old, researchers say

The ancient palace dug out by archaeologists near Sparta appears to have been built sometime around the 17th or maybe the 16th century BC, during Greece's Mycenaean Age.

Evidence indicates that it was destroyed in a fire sometime in the late 14th or early 13th century BC, but further research is needed to confirm this hypothesis.

Since the palace is largely destroyed, archaeologists can't offer much information on its architecture. They suspect it had a total of 10 rooms before it came tumbling down and was lost to history, but once again, more investigations are needed to reveal its design.

All the same, high officials are quite pleased with the discovery, even if there are still plenty of riddles left to solve. After all, there are few things quite as fascinating as ancient palaces.

“The palace complex of Aghios Vassilios Hill provides us with a unique opportunity to investigate the creation and evolution of a Mycenaean palatial center in order to reconstruct the political, administrative, economic and social organization of the region.”

“Alongside, it is estimated that new evidence on Mycenaean religion, linguistics and paleography will also be brought to light,” the Culture Ministry said in a statement, as cited by The Greek Reporter.

Several artifacts have also been recovered

Among the remains of this ancient palace, archaeologists have found several artifacts, including clay figurines, swords, mural fragments, bronze swords, seals and even a cup decorated with a bull's head.

They've also recovered ancient tablet inscriptions describing archaic religious rituals and written in a script called Linear B. This script is, at least for now, the earliest documented form of the Greek language.

Remains of ancient Greek palace found near Sparta
Remains of ancient Greek palace found near Sparta

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A view of the Parthenon in Athens
Remains of ancient Greek palace found near Sparta
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