Okay … I’ve waited a couple hours to see if my spiders bring back something with a little more detail. They haven’t, so I’ll post this for now … from the Straits Times:
Archaeologists in northern Greece have found a rare group of ancient graves where farmers were interred with their livestock, a Greek daily reported on Friday.
At least 11 adults and 16 farm animals were found buried together near the town of Mavropigi in the northern region of Macedonia, some 21km from the city of Kozani, Ethnos daily said.
The men, women and a child lay alongside horses, oxen, dogs and a pig in two rows of graves, the area’s head archaeologist told the newspaper.
‘It is the first time that this strange custom is found at such a scale, and from this particular period of time, the late 6th century and early 5th century BC,’ head archaeologist Georgia Karamitrou-Mentesidi said.
- via: Ancient Greek farmers found buried with livestock: Report (Straits Times)
… barring more details, we might speculate (and I’m only speculating here) that we’re dealing with some sort of epidemic a la the plague at Athens (although it is earlier); something like anthrax that affects both animals and humans?
