UC experts share Griffin Warrior with America

The UC Classics researchers in 2015 uncovered the tomb of a Mycenaean leader they called the Griffin Warrior after the mythological creature emblazoned on a plaque in his grave. The tomb contained armor, weapons, jewelry and other artifacts dating back 3,500 years. Three years later, they found two additional tombs likewise containing Griffin Warrior artifacts that are helping researchers better understand ancient Greece and its people, politics, economies and society.

Both researchers were inspired to study archaeology in college. Stocker’s career began with a term abroad in Greece while attending Denison University.

“I was always interested in history. I took a course on ancient Greece and fell in love with it,” she said.

She visited ancient ruins and temples at Delphi, a world heritage site renowned as a sanctuary for the Greek god Apollo.

“It’s a mystical site. Something grabbed hold of me. You’re up in the mountains. On the day we visited, we were above this sea of clouds. It was something very powerful — a sacred place,” she said. “I never looked back.”

UC Classics Professor Carl Blegen had already made a name for himself in archaeology after discovering the ancient city of Troy while conducting excavations in Turkey in the 1930s.

In 2015, Davis and Stocker co-directed excavations in an abandoned olive grove in the vicinity of the palace. It was an alternate site they had chosen after they could not get permission for another location. But it was just a matter of days before they would realize how providential their choice would be.

“Suddenly, there was a thick layer of bronze and we knew we had something special at that point,” Davis told Smithsonian.

The tomb of the Griffin Warrior would reveal the deep connections between the Mycenaean and Minoan cultures.

Two years later while excavating a nearby site, they discovered princely tombs with more Greek Bronze Age artifacts offering a glimpse into the lives of the Mycenaean people. The two UC researchers spent the past 10 years recovering, documenting and conserving thousands of artifacts.

“The result was more than we could have imagined — discoveries that would rewrite the story of Mycenaean civilization,” Davis said.

In 2022, Davis and Stocker published a book titled “A Greek State in Formation“ examining Mycenaean civilization through the prism of their discoveries and scholarship. This year they will publish the exhibition companion book,  “The Kingdom of Pylos: Warrior-Princes of Mycenaean Greece,” showcasing the exquisite craftsmanship and artistry behind the artifacts they discovered and their historical context.

The Getty exhibition features 230 works of art and artifacts from Messenia. These include Linear B tablets, a sword hilt, pendants featuring images of the Egyptian goddess Hathor and objects depicting mythological creatures.

Arguably the exhibition’s most anticipated artwork is the combat agate, a one-inch sealstone that Archaeology magazine calls “a Bronze Age masterpiece.” It depicts mortal combat between two warriors, one wielding a spear and the other a sword while a fallen warrior lies dying on the ground at their feet.

Because the sword depicted in the sealstone closely resembles the sword hilt found in his grave, an episode of the Smithsonian television series “Secrets” argues that the hero depicted is the Griffin Warrior himself.

“There were clear parallels between the warrior in the image and the remains of the Griffin Warrior,” the show argued.

A subsequent analysis of ancient DNA confirmed the suspicions of Davis and Stocker that the Griffin Warrior was from the area he would come to rule.

“What’s exciting about the Griffin Warrior is he united several disparate functions in his personality,” Davis said. “He was a religious leader, a political leader and a military leader. And that expression of those separate identities is found in the choices of the objects that were buried with him.”

Davis said he and other researchers have learned quite a bit about the Mycenaean civilization.

“It was pretty resilient. We’re not even sure if all the people who were part of Mycenae spoke Greek. There was a long period of expansion and absorption of people into the kingdoms in its formative stages,” he said.

A period of droughts around 1180 B.C.E. contributed to their decline, Stocker said.

“Crops were starting to fail. People couldn’t afford to eat. There was a chain reaction and a lot of unrest,” she said. “It was more or less a perfect storm of conditions that conspired to collapse the Mycenaeans.”

Now UC’s Carl W. Blegen Professor of Greek Archaeology, Davis was the longtime department head in Classics at UC. The department offers students amazing opportunities to pursue their interests in research and scholarship.

“Many Classics departments have little or no archaeology or little or no ancient history. They tend to be more like English departments focused on ancient languages,” Davis said.

Davis said there is more collaboration than ever across campus, with Classics faculty pooling their talents with experts in the research university’s other colleges on a myriad of fascinating projects.

“It’s really the variety of experiences in our department that we all respect that allows us to produce students who are very hirable,” he said. “All of our recent doctoral graduates have found jobs. And we’re very happy about that. I think that’s always been the success of the Cincinnati program.”

Since their discoveries, Davis and Stocker have received widespread acclaim. Archaeology magazine heralded the UC Classics’ project as one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in Greece in the past 50 years. The president of Greece awarded each the Commander of the Order of the Phoenix medal.

In November, the couple will give a presentation on their work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. As the couple reflect on the many years of hard work and collaboration that led to the exhibition, they feel extremely fortunate.

“I’m doing something I love. I’m outside a lot. I work with beautiful objects,” Stocker said. “Our project is extremely interdisciplinary, so I work with geologists and conservators and people in materials science. It’s been a rewarding career choice for me.

“It’s been quite an adventure!” she said.

“And it’s not over yet,” Davis added.

Featured image at top: UC Classics Professor Jack Davis and Senior Research Associate Sharon Stocker pose in front of the Colosseum in Rome. Photo/Provided