WORLD OF ART HISTORY MIGHT BE FOREVER CHANGED AFTER THE INCREDIBLE 3,500-YEAR-OLD STONE CARVING DISCOVERY

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati have made a new discovery that is fundamentally altering our understanding of the history of Western Civilisation. An amazing piece of carved stone could rewrite art history, more than a year after the 3,500-year-old tomb of a Bronze Age warrior in Greece was discovered. The Greek government praised the Griffin Warrior tomb, calling it the "most important to have been discovered in 65 years."

The tomb is located in Pylos, Greece, and dates to approximately 1500 B.C., which is around the time the Mycenaeans, who were based on the island of Crete, surpassed the Minoans, who were the dominant culture at the time. Although the tomb was brimming with wealth, its most amazing discovery may have taken longer to reveal.

The Pylos Combat Agate is a tiny stone that exhibits extraordinary skill and dexterity in its carving. Cleaning the limestone-encrusted seal to reveal the amazing image of a warrior in combat took conservationists more than a year. Some of the details that are etched on a stone piece that is slightly longer than 1.4 inches (3.6 centimetres) need to be viewed under a microscope. Greek archaeology chair at the University of Cincinnati and co-project director Jack Davis says, "What is fascinating is that the representation of the human body is at a level of detail and musculature that one doesn't find again until the classical period of Greek art 1,000 years later." "What a fantastic find."

Sharon Stocker, a senior research associate in the university's Department of Classics and the project's director alongside Davis, agrees. According to Stocker, "viewing the image for the first time was a very moving experience, and it still is." “Some people have started crying over it.”

But why is this little masterpiece such a significant discovery? The Pylos Combat Agate and other artefacts discovered in the tomb challenge the conventional wisdom that suggests the Mycaneans merely appropriated Minoan iconography. Instead, they indicate a more extensive cultural exchange than previously thought.

Furthermore, art historians need to reassess their chronology of the development of Western art in light of the seal's exquisite craftsmanship and wealth of anatomical detail. Greek art can be divided into discrete periods, with the Nike of Samothrace and other well-known sculptures dating to the high point of Greek artistry in the 4th century BC, or the Hellenistic era.

On the other hand, much less sophisticated art is associated with the Bronze Age, which produced the spoils discovered inside the Griffin Warrior tomb. But now, the seal might fundamentally alter our understanding of prehistoric art. According to Davis, "it appears that the Minoans were creating art of a caliber that no one ever thought they were capable of producing." It demonstrates that they are more skilled and interested in representational art than was previously thought, especially when it comes to movement and human anatomy. When coupled with the stylised features, that is truly remarkable in and of itself.