Greek Hiker Finds 6,500 year-old Pendant

[Sequoia]

THESSALONIKI, Greece Feb 16, 2006 (AP)— A Greek hiker found a 6,500-year-old gold pendant in a field and handed it over to authorities, an archaeologist said Thursday.

The flat, roughly ring-shaped prehistoric pendant probably had religious significance and would have been worn on a necklace by a prominent member of society.

Only three such gold artifacts have been discovered during organized digs, archaeologist Georgia Karamitrou-Mendesidi, head of the Greek archaeological service in the northern region where the discovery was made, told The Associated Press.

"It belongs to the Neolithic period, about which we know very little regarding the use of metals, particularly gold," she said. "The fact that it is made of gold indicates that these people were highly advanced, producing significant works of art."


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http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1628346

[Gatchaman]

1. Sounds like the beginning of a bad horror movie...

...has this guy been impaled yet?

[livetohike]

2. Wow, I'm hiking in all the wrong places!

That's awesome :-).

[undeterred]

3. I've always wondered who these "authorities" are

Is there really an authority for old pendants?

[xchrom]

4. cool.

it's made me hungry to read more re: neolithic greece.

[Sequoia]

5. Reminds me of..."The beginning of knowledge is the discovery

of something we do not understand." Frank Hubert (Dune)

I put quotes on our lobby board every Thursday and this is the one I used.


But then again:

"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge." Daniel J. Boorstin

[xchrom]

6. the illusion of knowledge, indeed.

in aa we have a saying about an obstacle to sobriety called ''contempt before investigation''.

[no name no slogan]

9. spare quote, from a guy I used to work with

He was a Vietnamese and didn't speak very clear English and he had a killer sense of humor:

"Do it today. Tomorrow, it could be illegal."

[oneighty]

7. Why does every

ancient artifact have religious significance?

Cannot an ancient artist create art that is just art and nothing more?

Pisses me off no end it does the search for a religious meaning in every bead every clay statue every stone carving.

Jeez.

180

[Sequoia]

10. Exactly.

How would they know from 6,500 years ago? I might have kept it for awhile and wished on it....just in case!! I love to believe in magic if only to get my hopes up.

[SoCalDem]

8. I once found a "piece of eight" under our clothesliine

Took it to school for show and tell, and found that about half my class had found them too.. Pirates must have been careless with their money back then..Maybe they WERE drunk most of the time :)

[newportdadde]

11. I think I would have kept it.

Finding something like that I may have tried to do as much research as I could on my own but I would have been extremly tempted to keep it.