English/Nat
A team of Greek archaeologists cast doubts on the reported discovery of Alexander the Great's tomb after a brief visit to an excavation site in Egypt's Western Desert.
But they admitted they had spent only a few hours at the site on Sunday and saw only some of the fragments that have been unearthed.
A Greek team headed by archaeologist Liana Souvaltzi announced last week that it believed it had found the long-sought tomb. The resting place of Alexander the Great, who conquered most of the known world before his death at age 33 in 323 B.C., has remained a mystery.
Experts at the Egyptian Antiquities Organization, which oversees the nation's archaeological treasures, said the evidence suggested Ms. Souvaltzi may be correct, but more investigation was needed.
It invited the team headed by professor Yannis Tzedakis, Greece's director of antiquities, who visited Sunday.
Tzedakis told reporters that the inscribed fragments his team were shown by the Egyptians "belonged to the Roman Imperial period" - several centuries after Alexander's death.
"They are not Hellenistic," he said. "They have nothing to do with the period of Ptolemy
Ptolemy is thought to have met Alexander's funeral procession as it returned to Egypt from Mesopotamia, where legend has it the king died of fever.
Tzedakis cautioned, however, that he had spent only a few hours at the site near the Siwa oasis, 50 miles from the Libyan border, and may not have seen all of the evidence. He said he wanted to see all the reports from the excavation before he drew a final
conclusion.
Ms. Souvaltzi believes Alexander's body will be found in a tomb at Siwa, yet to be excavated because of water seepage.
She told reporters last week that her team had found a plaque commissioned by the Roman Emperor Trajan, who ruled from 98 to 117 A.D., indicating that Alexander had been poisoned.
Tzedakis said his team had seen no reference to poison on the fragments they were shown.
