A marble head discovered at the Kastas Tomb excavation in Ancient Amphipolis, northeastern Greece, on Tuesday belongs to the eastern sphinx found at the entrance to the tomb, the ministry of Culture said. 
 
 
 
 According to AMNA, the head measures 0.60m high, the nose is slightly chipped and it has a polos (head cover). The ministry said there is a clean break at the bottom of the neck that shows a perfect fit with the sphinx. The head is carved with wavy locks containing traces of red paint and held by a thin band. The hair would appear draped over the sphinx΄s left shoulder. Fragments of the sphinxes΄ wings were also found. 
 
 
 
 The ministry also announced it was excavating the entrance to the fourth chamber at the tomb with a trial trench (2x2m, 0.45m deep). This area revealed two fragments of the western doors, with dimensions 0.89m x 1.49m/1.30m x 0.15m each. 
 
 
 
 The northern section of the marble threshold - whose total area is 2.15m x 1.6m x 0.25m - was also uncovered. The threshold has indents to set the metal runners for the marble doors. There appears to be a floor of whitewashed limestone. Archaeologists found some of the floor΄s limestone slabs on either side of the threshold. 
 
 
 
 From trench evident, it appears that the floor settled in the eastern part, while in the west the floor is destroyed and its slabs have caved in; some of these which have fallen into the previous (third) chamber will be removed in the next few days, the ministry said. ||||| Two white horses pull the chariot bound for the banks of the river Styx. 
 
 A bearded passenger on the chariot wears a laurel wreath and has just the left side of face showing. Archaeologists believe the man to be Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, who had lost his right eye and also won a wreath at an Olympic game. 
 
 The mosaic covers the whole floor of a chamber -- a 14.7-foot wide by 9.8-foot long area. A large portion of the middle section is missing, however, archaeologists have found many pieces of the damaged area and will try to puzzle the floor back together. 
 
 A stunning mosaic floor uncovered at Amphipolis in northern Greece, shows the Greek god Hermes as a charioteer, leading a bearded man to the Underworld. Hermes wears a petasos on his head, a cloak, winged sandals and holds a caduceus, a winged staff with two snakes wrapped around it. 
 
 Greek archaeologists made another amazing find on Tuesday as they unearthed the missing head of one of the two wingless sphinxes guarding the large and mysterious burial site in Amphipolis, in Greece’s northeastern Macedonia region. 
 
 According to a statement by the Culture Ministry, the finely carved head was found inside the tomb’s third chamber. Fragments of the wings were also unearthed. 
 
 About 24 inches high, the marble head depicts a beautiful woman who appears to smile slightly. Apart from some minor damage to the nose and lips, the sculpture is largely intact. 
 
 Sphinxes Emerge From Huge Ancient Greek Tomb 
 
 The life-like work features curls falling on the left shoulder and tied around the head with a thin band. There are traces of a reddish color in the hair. 
 
 “This is a sculpture of magnificent art,” the culture ministry said. 
 
 The ministry added that a clean break at the bottom of the neck shows a perfect fit with the eastern sphinx. 
 
 Weighting about 1.5 tons and bearing traces of red coloring on their feet, the colossal sphinxes were found in August. Archaeologists led by Katerina Peristeri believe the mythological statues were meant to guard the burial, which is the largest tomb ever uncovered in Greece. 
 
 Female Sculptures Guard Mysterious Tomb in Greece 
 
 The tomb has been dated to the last quarter of the fourth century B.C. (325-300 B.C.), the period immediately following the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. 
 
 Among the most interesting features discovered by Peristeri’s team are two carved caryatids — female figures that serve as architectural support — and a large mosaic depicting the abduction of Persephone by Pluto. 
 
 Amazingly, such features are represented in the marble throne found in the royal cemetery at Aegae (modern Vergina) in the tomb attributed to Eurydice I, the grandmother of Alexander the Great. 
 
 The throne features the scene of the abduction of Persephone by Pluto as well as carved caryatids and sphinxes in its panel decorations. 
 
 Greek Tomb Mural Depicts Abduction of Persephone 
 
 The now almost totally reconstructed eastern sphinx strongly resembles the sphinxes on the throne. Unfortunately, the decorations were stolen from the royal seat in 2001. 
 
 The archaeologists also unearthed the northern section of the marble threshold, which is seven feet long and more than five wide and features indents that once held metal rails. These were meant to ease the movement of the heavy marble door. 
 
 The western wing of the door was also found, broken in two pieces. 
 
 Why the head of the sphinx was found inside the tomb’s third chamber remains a mystery. It is quite unlikely looters would bother to move the marble sculpture from the tomb entrance into its interior. 
 
 Remains of Alexander the Great’s Father Confirmed Found 
 
 The fragmented marble door also poses questions. 
 
 “Why is the door at Amphipolis so much more damaged than the rest of the structure and sculpture … was it locked?,” Dorothy King, a classical archaeologist not involved in the excavation, wrote in her blog. 
 
 “If so this would be the first evidence of a possible attempt to rob the tomb in antiquity. Or maybe the slabs were less secure than the rest of the building, so they fell and shattered,” King said. 
 
 According to the scholar, all the evidence so far made available suggests that there were structural issues with the tomb due to the huge weight of the mound bearing down on it. 
 
 Best-Ever Portrait of Alexander the Great Found? 
 
 She suggests there was a first attempt to use scaffolding to support the roof. In this view, the large hole in the mosaic center could be caused by a post used to support the beam above. 
 
 “My current working hypothesis is that they filled the structure with soil to try to stop it collapsing, and then attempted to remove some of the superstructure to reduce the weight on the chambers,” King told Discovery News. 
 
 “The way the blocks cracked all suggests that the stress came from above and not from below as would be more usual in an earthquake,” King said. 
 
 Andrew Chugg, author of "The Quest for the Tomb of Alexander the Great," has a different explanation and believes the sphinxes were deliberately decapitated. 
 
 PHOTOS: Great Archaeological Discoveries Ahead 
 
 “The sphinx's head and the tomb door fragments appear to have been embedded in the sand and soil used to fill the tomb," Chugg told Discovery News. "It is hard for this to happen unless the doors were smashed and the sculptures mutilated in the middle of the process of filling the tomb with earth and sand.” 
 
 He concluded the person who sealed up the tomb was likely the same person who had the statues in the tomb mutilated. 
 
 “This is quite strange, but If it is Olympias' (Alexander the Great’s mother) tomb, it could have been perpetrated by Cassander after he had Alexander IV and Roxane murdered,” Chugg said. 
 
 Chugg has considered Olympias the person most likely buried in the magnificent tomb ever since archaeologists discovered colossal sphinxes and female statues known as caryatids in the underground space. 
 
 “With Alexander IV dead, the tomb would have been anathema to Cassander," Chugg said. "He would both have wished to destroy it and to prevent Olympias' supporters getting access to her remains. This would also suggest that Olympias' remains are still inside." 
 
 Image: The newly found head of the sphinx. Credit: Greek Ministry of Culture.
– In August, archaeologists in Greece announced they were about ready to enter what they say is the biggest ancient tomb ever unearthed in the country—which would mean passing by the two headless carved sphinxes that flank its entrance. Now those archaeologists say one of the missing sphinx heads has been found inside, along with fragments of the sphinx's wings. The 2-foot head, whose nose and lips are lightly damaged, was unearthed in the third chamber of the fourth-century tomb at the ancient site of Amphipolis in the Macedonia region. A press release notes that the clean break at the bottom of the neck is a perfect match with the eastern sphinx's body; when united, the head's wavy hair would flow over the left shoulder. The 1.5-ton sphinxes have red coloring on their feet; traces of similar coloring appear in the head's hair. It's the latest in a series of wonders given up by the tomb—among them, two carved caryatids (statues of females that stand in for pillars) and a mosaic that recounts Hades' abduction of Persephone. Discovery notes that all these elements are represented in a marble throne believed to have belonged to Alexander the Great's grandmother. As for who's buried there, AFP notes one theory: Alexander's mother, Olympias. As for why the sphinxes were decapitated, one researcher tells Discover that after Alexander's death, eventual successor Cassander—who had Alexander's widow and son murdered—could have destroyed the tomb to "prevent Olympias' supporters getting access to her remains. This would also suggest that Olympias' remains are still inside." (A sphinx was recently uncovered in ... California.)