Mycenaean palace found in Sparta

Posted On: Sep 9th, 2015 at 11:30

Greece
A lost Mycenaean palace is thought to have been found near ancient Sparta in southern Greece.
The bronze age palace, burnt down in the 1300s BC and containing many rooms, also has several tablets that suggest a lost period of history, and may shed light on the lineage from the Minoan civilisation which originated on the island of Crete.
The Mycenaean culture disappeared in 1200 BC, and this discovery may give some clues to its demise.
No palace or such building has previously been found on the Spartan plain, and therefore this palace may be the link between those two cultures. The Mycenaeans were the predecessors of the Spartans, so this palace may suggest the primary roots of the Spartan culture, which rose to prominence about two hundred years later in 1000 BC. The Spartans evolved from a mix of several local tribes, first invaded by Macedonian tribes from the north and incorporating Spartan tribes which eventually became the dominant culture when Mycenae fell.
The palace, however, is probably proof that the Mycenaeans were using the Spartan plain several hundred years before the rise of the Spartans, and this could provide an important, and previously unknown, part of missing history.
I will be heading to Greece at the end of the month for my next Archaeology tour and I may well be visiting this site if I can find it! Watch this space…

http://news.yahoo.com/lost-palace-sparta-possibly-uncovered-140506834.html