Still not Indiana Jones - a brief exploration of Vaphaio

South of Sparta is a tholos tomb which had not been plundered in antiquity.  The treasure, and particularly two golden cups, are now housed in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens.  We didn't know any of this before we found this site.  All we knew was that it was a Level 4, it was SSE of Sparta, and it was on the way home from Taenaron.  What more did I need to know?

After a little driving around on some wrong roads, we stopped, and I was able to ask for directions. My Atlas, Google Maps and the Greek archaeological websites don't always agree either with each other or with reality, and even though I try to use satellite images to confirm the location of ruins, many fields in the area are littered with rocks that it is simply sometimes impossible to tell where the ruin is.  Eventually, we found a dirt road through some olive groves to a paved path.  Randall tried to drive up the path until I remarked that this was probably a foot path, not a roadway.  Anyway, here is the sign that told us we are going in the right direction.

Eventually, we found the tholos tomb, but like most Level 4s that are in active fields or villages, it was surrounded by a fence.  There was a path around the outside, however, and you can clearly see the circular shape and the entrance (the roof had caved in).

However, this seemed too inviting:

Yep, much too inviting.