Derveni, January 15, 1962: during the widening of the Thessaloniki-Kavala highway, a mechanical excavator struck the walls of a cist tomb, "suffocatingly full" with valuable grave goods, as the late Petros Themelis, excavator of the site, describes in the publication.

In the centre of the tomb - known by the conventional name "tomb A" - among a multitude of bronze, clay, alabaster and glass vessels, weapons, strigils and jewellery, the ash-urn, a bronze krater with volute handles, containing the cremation of the deceased along with parts of a golden oak wreath and a second, gilded wreath, was found lying on the ground. The tomb at Derveni, in the area where the cemetery of ancient Liti extends, belonged to a man whose burial is estimated to have taken place in the late 4th or early 3rd century BC. From the exceptional abundance, luxury and high quality of the grave goods, and the presence of weapons, it is presumed that the deceased belonged to the Macedonian upper class, and may have been an hetairos (King’s companion). It is worth noting that to the deceased of this tomb also belonged the famous Derveni papyrus, which was found in the remains of the pyre scattered over the tomb.

The ash-urn, the volute krater with inv. no. A 1 i.e., is made of a copper and tin alloy, with a characteristic 'golden' appearance (as a result of the high tin content of the alloy). Rim, handles and base were cast, while the body was cast and hammered up. It has an oval body, unadorned, while, in contrast, the rim (Ionic kyma, astragalus), the base (tongues, astragalus) and the elaborate handles (spirals, palmettes) ending on the shoulder of the vase in swan heads - all are decorated.

Bronze volute kraters can be found as early as the 6th century BC. These precious vessels were intended for use at formal banquets, private or public, for mixing wine with water. The krater in question dates, on the basis of its typology, to the end of the 5th century BC. This fact is of twofold interest: firstly, because it was found in a tomb dating to about 100 years later, which means that the vessel was in use for about a century before it ended up accompanying the prominent deceased to his grave, and secondly, because it gives us an insight into the art of metalworking in Macedonia in the Classical period, before its great development in the years following the end of Alexander the Great's campaign in the East.

You can see this bronze krater up close in the permanent exhibition "The Gold of Macedon", showcase 53.