Mysterious shackled skeletons found in ancient Greek mass grave

At least 80 skeletons lie in amass grave in an ancient Greek cemetery, their wrists clamped byiron shackles.

They are the victims, say archaeologists, of a massexecution. But who they were, how they got there and why they
appear to have been buried with a measure of respect that allremains a mystery.

They were found earlier this year in part of the FalyronDelta necropolis a large ancient cemetery unearthed during theconstruction of a national opera house and library betweendowntown Athens and the port of Piraeus.

Few people have been able to get in to have a close look.

But on a rare tour of the site, archeologists carefullyshowed Reuters the skeletons, some lying in a long neat row in
the dug-out sandy ground, others piled on top of each other,arms and legs twisted with their jaws hanging open.

"They have been executed, all in the same manner. But theyhave been buried with respect," said Stella Chryssoulaki, head ofexcavations.

"They are all tied at the hands with handcuffs and most ofthem are very very young and in a very good state of health whenthey were executed."

The experts hope DNA testing and research by anthropologistswill uncover exactly how the rows of people died. Whateverhappened was violent most had their arms bound above theirheads, the wrists tied together.

But the orderly way they have been buried suggest these weremore than slaves or common criminals.

Coup plot?

The cemetery dates from between the 8th and 5th century BC.

"It is a period of great unrest for Athenian society, aperiod where aristocrats, nobles, are battling with each other
for power," said Chryssoulaki.

One of the strongest theories is that they were supportersof Cylon, an Athenian noble and Olympic champion who staged anattempted coup in Athens in 632 BC with the help of hisfather-in-law, the tyrant of Megara.

The coup failed and Cylon hid in a temple of the Acropolis.He managed to escape, but the people who backed him were killed.

"Perhaps with the DNA tests that we will do on theseskeletons we may confirm or not this hypothesis that these
deceased, these young people could be ... part of a coup ... anattempt by a noble to take power by force," said Chryssoulaki.

More than 1,500 bodies lie in the whole cemetery, someinfants laid to rest in ceramic pots, other adults burned on
funeral pyres or buried in stone coffins. One casket is madefrom a wooden boat.

Unlike Athens' renowned ancient Kerameikos cemetery, thelast resting place of many prominent ancient Greeks, these
appear to be the inhabitants of regular neighbourhoods.

The dig is within a 170,000-square metrelandscaped park, shadowedby the vast new modern library and opera house buildings beingbuilt by the Stavros Niarchos philanthropic foundation.

High-rise apartments dot the skyline to the north while anoisy motorway snakes by the site's east side.

Chryssoulaki wants to see a museum built on the spot, as amonument to the daily lives of Athenians from another era.

"A cemetery is a first and last photograph in antiquity ofthose people that pass from life to death," she said.