INTERESTING DISCOVERIES.
A report reaches us through a Greek paper of the accidental discovery, in the island of Syros, of three graves, the structure and contents of which would point to a very early prehistoric date. It was during the digging for the foundations of a new building in the town of Hermonopolis that these graves were brought to light. The vessels found in them are in good preservation, and are, with one exception, of wood or earthenware, and this exception is a vase of metal, in which are the ashes of a dead man. The other graves also exhibit, without any exception, unburned bones, thus showing a curious combined system of ordinary burial and cremation, the bones in the vase having been burned, and the others not so. Votive offerings were placed about the skeletons in every case, those which were apparently of the greatest value being found in the dead men’s hands. It is to be hoped that the vessels may be secured for the Athens Museum, already so rich with many such curious relics. This Museum has been lately enriched with the remains of the pediment sculptures of the Temple of Athene Alea at Tegea. These precious fragments, consisting of two heads of youths and one head of a boar, are the only pieces of sculpture which can be affirmed, with confidence, to be the work of Scopas; and it is a satisfaction to know that archæologists and antiquaries who desire to view the relics of highly refined art of past ages, may see them in this Museum without the trouble of going to Tegea. It is also reported that the missing half of one of the other heads lately discovered has been found, and is now safe in the same Museum. Another exquisitely beautiful head of a female, found some years ago at Lerna, has been procured for the National Museum, thanks to the zeal and energy of the Director, Dr Kabbadias. The head is life-size, of Parian marble, and evidently, from the flat unworked state of the back, formed part of a group in high relief, and dates probably from the third century before Christ. The learned are in much doubt as to whom the head is intended to represent, many inclining to the opinion that it is Demeter, from its charming expression and pathetic beauty; but as no part of the figure remains, this is, after all, mere speculation.