A photograph depicting British soldiers proudly holding skulls found near the Amphipolis Tomb in Greece has raised questions about whether they may have plundered the tomb more than a century ago.
The King’s Shropshire Light Infantry (KSLI), a regiment of the British Army formed in 1881, was posted to Thessaloniki in Greece in 1915 at the request of the Greek Prime Minister and spent nearly three years fighting the Bulgarians in Macedonia.
For the most part, they were based at the Strymon River front between Lake Doiran and Amphipolis, where they constructed trenches and dugouts and fought numerous skirmishes.
However, it seems the battalion did more than just fight, as photographs have emerged showing evidence that the soldiers may have entered the famous tomb at Amphipolis, as well as proudly showing off human remains found near the site.
It is already known that the spectacular Lion of Amphipolis, a 5.3-meter-high marble statue that once stood on top of the giant tomb of Amphipolis, was found by British soldiers who were building fortifications at the bridge of Amphipolis in 1916.
The British tried to smuggle the marble parts to England, but their efforts were thwarted when Bulgarians who had just seized Paggaion attacked them. Archaeologist Fotis Petsas, whose work on the history of the Lion of Amphipolis was published in 1976 in “Proodos” newspaper that circulated in Serres, wrote:
“During the Balkan War in 1913, Greek soldiers found the foundations of the pedestal of the monument while digging trenches. The foundations were examined by George Ikonomos and Anastasios Orlandos who subsequently became professors of archaeology. Later, in 1916, during World War I, British soldiers discovered the first parts of the marble lion. Their attempt to transport the pieces onboard a ship were thwarted by an enemy bombing.”
The story was confirmed by Greek historian and archaeologist Michael Lefatzis during a press conference at the Greek Ministry of Culture in 2014. “The British attempted to transfer 1.000 pieces of the Amphipolis tomb’s enclosure and the Lion of Amphipolis to London in 1916, much like they did with the Parthenon Marbles,” he said.
Lefatzis, who was responsible for the schematic designs of the ancient tomb, told reporters that British troops were all set to transfer the pieces and the magnificent statue but on the day they were setting off were attacked by Austrian and Bulgarian troops.
The biography page for Dr Eric Gardner (1877 – 1951), a British medic and amateur archaeologist, who was posted to Greece during WWI, reveals that he took treasures found at Amphipolis and ‘donated’ them to the British Museum.
The British Museum writes: “He was based around Amphipolis on the Struma front, where an Archaic-Hellenistic Greek cemetery was uncovered. Donated contents of an Amphipolis grave to the Museum in 1918.” So was this ‘Amphipolis grave’ the great tomb that is currently being excavated by archaeologists?
An article in the British National Archives says that as British troops began digging defensive positions in Macedonia, they uncovered archaeological objects, so an order was issued in December 1915 regarding the collection of antiquities. Around the same time, liaison began with the Greek authorities to deal with archaeological matters in general.
It adds that the diaries of British troops deployed near Amphipolis do not mention antiquities. It concludes that evidence from the British archives “strongly suggest” that the tomb site was never occupied by British troops, at least in the time before the armistice.
Amphipolis itself appears to have been in no-man’s land, being visited by British and enemy troops at various times.
Related: Who Is Buried in the Amphipolis Tomb?
