The discovery, announced by the Greek Culture Ministry, was found in the ruins of a stone structure, near the remains of a wall surrounding the ‘inner suburb’ of the Middle Bronze Age settlement.
The collection was discovered during 2025 excavations at the archaeological site of Kolona on the Greek island of Aegina. All 32 items were found in excellent condition and were thought to have belonged to a gold necklace or pendant.
Among the treasures recovered are eight gold bilateral disc-shaped amulets, one gold non-bilateral disc-shaped amulet, seven golden biconical beads, one cylindrical gold bead, eight decorative sheets of gold leaf, and seven spherical carnelian beads.
According to researchers, the jewellery may have served as offerings, possibly from a Middle Bronze Age burial. That said, there is no evidence of a surviving tomb to support this theory.
The jewellery bears similarities to pieces from the Aegina Treasure, a Minoan gold collection thought to have been found in a tomb on the island in 1891. The Aegina Treasure has been dated to the Greek Bronze Age between 1850 and 1550 BCE.
The Kolona excavations were conducted by the University of Salzburg through the Austrian Archaeological Institute in Athens.
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