ATHENSArchaeologists have unearthed a vast ancient tomb in Greece, distinguished by two sphinxes and frescoed walls and dating to 300-325 B.C., in the country's northeast Macedonian region, the government said on Tuesday. 
 
 It marks a significant discovery from the early Hellenistic era, although a Culture Ministry official said there was no evidence yet to suggest a link to Alexander the Great, who died in 323 B.C. after an unprecedented military campaign through the Middle East, Asia and northeast Africa, or his family. 
 
 The official said the Amphipolis site, situated about 100 km (65 miles) northeast of Greece's second-biggest city Thessaloniki, appeared to be the largest ancient tomb to have been discovered in Greece. 
 
 Archaeologists, who began excavating the site in 2012, expect to enter the tomb by the end of the month to determine out who was buried there. 
 
 "It looks like the tomb of a prominent Macedonian of that era," said a second culture ministry official, declining to be named. Alexander the Great died in Babylonia, in what is modern Iraq, and his actual burial place is not known. 
 
 Archaeologists have found two sphinxes, thought to have guarded its entrance, a 4.5-metre-(yard)-wide road leading into it, with walls on both sides covered by frescoes. It is circled by a 497-metre-long marble outer wall. 
 
 Experts believe a five-meter-tall lion sculpture previously discovered nearby once stood atop the tomb. 
 
 "It is certain that we stand before an especially significant finding. The land of Macedonia continues to move and surprise us, revealing its unique treasures," Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said on Tuesday during a visit to the site. 
 
 (Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas writing by George Georgiopoulos; editing by Mark Heinrich) ||||| Archaeologists excavating an ancient mound in northern Greece have uncovered what appears to be the entrance to an important tomb from about the end of the reign of warrior-king Alexander the Great. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, who visited the tightly guarded site Tuesday, said the discovery "is clearly extremely important" and dates between 325-300 B.C. Alexander, who started from the northern Greek region of Macedonia to build an empire stretching as far as India, died in 323 B.C. and was buried in Egypt. His fellow royals were traditionally interred in a cemetery near Vergina, far to the west, where the lavishly furnished tomb of Alexander's father, Philip II, was discovered in the 1970s. But archaeologists believe the apparently unlooted Amphipolis grave, which is surrounded by a surprisingly long and well-built wall with courses of marble decorations, may have belonged to a senior ancient official. 
 
 Excavator Katerina Peristeri has argued that the mound was originally topped by a large stone lion that was unearthed a century ago some 5 kilometers from the site. In the past, the lion has been associated with Laomedon of Mytilene, one of Alexander's military commanders who became governor of Syria after the king's death. "The excavation will answer the crucial question of who was buried inside," Samaras said. 
 
 A tourist takes a picture of a 4th century B.C. marble Lion of Amphipolis, some 5 kilometers (3 miles) from a large funeral mound currently under excavation by Greek archaeologists. The mound, which is believed to contain a significant grave dating to the end of Alexander the Great’s reign, and excavators believe this lion originally formed part of a tomb monument that crowned the artificial hill. Alexandros Michailidis / AP 
 
 The tomb is expected to be opened in the next two weeks. So far, workers have unveiled a flight of 13 steps that lead to a broad path, flanked by masonry walls, which end in a built-up arch covering two headless, wingless sphinxes — mythical creatures that blend human, bird and lion characteristics. A strong police guard has been mounted around the fenced-off mound. 
 
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 Great news coming from Amphipolis,#Greece:archaeological discovery brings @PrimeministerGR Samaras to the area. http://t.co/6MD87RLnus — Amb of Greece to US (@C_Panag) August 12, 2014 
 
 — The Associated Press ||||| ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Bones from a skeleton found in the innermost chamber of a huge, looted tomb in Greece could help archaeologists solve the riddle of who was buried there in opulent splendor, during the twilight of Alexander the Great's reign in the late 4th century B.C. 
 
 This picture provided by Greece's Culture Ministry, Oct. 20, 2014, shows the broken-off head of a marble sphinx, one of a pair that decorated the entrance of a large 4th century B.C. tomb under excavation... (Associated Press) 
 
 This picture taken on Thursday, Oct. 10 2014, shows work under progress at Casta Hill near Amphipolis in northern Greece, where archaeologists are excavating a large 4th century B.C. tomb. Bones from... (Associated Press) 
 
 This picture provided by Greece's Culture Ministry in Aug. 26, 2014, shows a protective shelter excavators built over the entrance - decorated with headless marble sphinxes to a large 4th century B.C.... (Associated Press) 
 
 This picture provided by Greece's Culture Ministry on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014, shows the top of a stone-lined cistern found in a large 4th century B.C. tomb under excavation at Amphipolis in northern... (Associated Press) 
 
 This picture provided by Greece's Culture Ministry on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014, shows surviving fragments of carved bone, right, and glass coffin ornaments found in a large 4th century B.C. tomb under... (Associated Press) 
 
 This picture provided by Greece's Culture Ministry on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014, shows a large, damaged mosaic floor of the ancient Greek god of the underworld, Pluto, abducting the goddess Persephone on... (Associated Press) 
 
 This drawing provided by Greece's Culture Ministry shows the three-chambered interior of a large 4th century B.C. tomb under excavation at Amphipolis in northern Greece. Bones from a skeleton found in... (Associated Press) 
 
 A Culture Ministry statement on Wednesday said the bones were strewn in and around a rectangular stone-lined cist, under the floor of the cavernous, vaulted structure that is 8 meters (26 feet) tall. 
 
 The skeleton had initially been placed in a wooden coffin that rotted away, leaving behind the nails that held it together and some carved ivory and glass ornaments. 
 
 In an excavation over the past three months near ancient Amphipolis, 600 kilometers (375 miles) north of Athens, Greek archaeologists have uncovered a three-chamber tomb decorated with marble statues of sphinxes and young women, and a large mosaic pavement. 
 
 "It is an extremely expensive construction, whose cost, clearly, is unlikely to have been borne by a private citizen," the ministry statement said. Excavator Katerina Peristeri said the occupant was probably some "outstanding personality, a great general" who later enjoyed hero worship. 
 
 The mystery has gripped Greece for months. Michalis Tiverios, a professor of archaeology at the University of Thessaloniki, said the human remains should provide valuable information on the occupant of the tomb, which at about 15 meters long and 4.5 meters wide is one of the biggest ever found in the country. 
 
 "It's a very important find because it will help us learn the sex of the person buried there, and possibly their approximate age," he told the AP. 
 
 Tiverios, who was not linked with the excavation, said one possible candidate would be Nearchos, one of Alexander's closest aides who led his fleet back from India to modern Iraq, and who grew up in Amphipolis. 
 
 Alexander, the ancient Greek warrior-king who built an empire from modern Greece to India, died in Babylon in 323 B.C. and was buried in the city of Alexandria, which he founded, in Egypt. The precise location of his tomb is one of the biggest unanswered questions of archaeology. 
 
 His generals fought over control of the empire for years, during which wars Alexander's mother, widow, son and half-brother were all murdered — most near Amphipolis. 
 
 Wednesday's ministry announcement confirmed what archaeologists had suspected from the outset — and officials for a long time denied — that the tomb had been thoroughly and repeatedly plundered during antiquity. 
 
 "Whatever objects of value the first thieves missed was taken by others later," Tiverios said. 
 
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 Costas Kantouris contributed from Thessaloniki. 
 
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 Follow Kantouris at http://www.twitter.com/CostasKantouris
– Archaeologists in Greece are nearly ready to enter what they say is the biggest ancient tomb ever unearthed in the country. The tomb at the ancient site of Amphipolis in the Macedonia region, around 65 miles northeast of Thessaloniki, dates from around 300 BC—the time of Alexander the Great, though experts don't believe it belongs to the warrior-king, who died in what is now Iraq, the Telegraph reports. Two carved sphinxes flank the entrance to the tomb, which is surrounded by a 540-yard marble outer wall. "It looks like the tomb of a prominent Macedonian of that era," a culture ministry official tells Reuters. Archaeologists have spent the last couple years excavating the ancient burial mound under which the tomb was found, and they plan to enter the tomb within the next two weeks, reports NBC, which adds that there is one clue to its possible occupant: Researchers believe a 16-foot stone lion unearthed in the area a century ago and associated with Laomedon of Mytilene, one of Alexander the Great's military commanders, once stood atop the tomb. (Click to read about an "evil eye" box uncovered in an ancient cemetery.)