http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/04/science/greece-archaeology-pylos-griffin-warrior.html 2016-10-03 20:43:04 In Greek Warrior’s Grave, Rings of Power (and a Mirror and Combs) Archaeologists believe that elegant gold rings and engraved gemstones were not looted from Crete, but were signs of the growth of Minoan culture from the island. === A trove of beautifully engraved gold rings and gemstones, found in the untouched grave of an ancient Greek warrior last year, were possessions from his culture, not loot from the nearby island of Crete, archaeologists now believe. The gold rings, they say, were rings of power. These items served as insignia of the elite who ruled the local inhabitants of The grave throws light on a dramatic historical process, the extension of the The grave was The gold rings, engraved gemstones and many other items in the grave bear Minoan themes, so they could have been plunder from a raid on Crete. But Dr. Davis and Dr. Stocker believe otherwise, noting that objects in the grave are echoed in the iconography of the gold rings, they write in an article to be published in the journal The grave contained a bronze mirror and six ivory combs, accessories the archaeologists were surprised to find in a warrior’s tomb. But Greek warriors wore their hair long, and Spartan warriors are known to have combed their hair before battle. And the mirror may have had a ritual significance: One of the gold rings depicts a goddess holding a similar mirror. Another object both in the grave and shown on the rings is a staff. A twisted piece of metal found in the grave appeared at first to be a meat hook. But when untwisted it turned out to be the head of a horned animal, probably a bull, with a socket and nail hole as if to be mounted on a staff. A goddess is holding just such a staff on one of the gold rings. The staff almost certainly indicates that the warrior held authority of some kind, religious or civil. The archaeologists do not yet know if the warrior and those who buried him were Minoans or Mycenaeans steeped in Minoan culture. “Whoever they are, they are the people introducing Minoan ways to the mainland and forging Mycenaean culture,” Dr. Davis said. “They were probably dressing like Minoans and building their houses according to styles used on Crete, using Minoan building techniques.” The warrior’s grave “is telling us that right from the beginning there were people on the mainland who knew what Minoan culture meant and were bringing it to the mainland for a specific reason, that of establishing themselves in positions of power,” he said. By 1400 B.C., half a century after the warrior’s death, that power had been extended to the province of Cynthia W. Shelmerdine, an expert on the The grave, whether dug by Minoans or Mycenaeans, “fits with other evidence that the elites on the mainland are increasingly closely connected to the elites on Crete,” Dr. Shelmerdine said. The Mycenaeans continued to use Minoan themes, such as gymnasts leaping over bulls, in their art and administration until the end of the palatial period. But by classical times the memory of Minoan culture had faded, and survived mostly in the myth of