CHIGAGO, ILLINOIS—The Diros Project has uncovered the remains of Ksagounaki, an ancient town and burial complex, located outside the entrance to Alepotrypa Cave in southern Greece. The large underground cave may have been seen as the entrance to the mythic Greek underworld, and the ancient town is thought to have been an important ritual and settlement complex during the Neolithic period and the Bronze Age. (The recently discovered grave of a man and woman who had been buried together in an embracing position some 6,000 years ago was found at Diros.) However, William Parkinson of The Field Museum said that some 2,000 years after the settlement at Ksagounaki was abandoned, the Mycenaeans built a structure there and filled it with the bones of dozens of individuals, Late Bronze Age pottery, stone beads, ivory, and a bronze Mycenaean dagger. Perhaps the Neolithic buildings had drawn the attention of the Mycenaeans to this natural wonder. For more about Alepotrypa Cave, see "Portals to the Underworld."
