Greece's Olympic treasure hunt

A few paces away, another team of workers, with only brushes and garden tools, carefully digs into the past.

It’s part of an unexpected gift for archaeologists - Olympic projects clearing the way for the single biggest antiquities treasure hunt in Athens and the surrounding areas.

Work on dozens of Olympic-related sites, from venues to highways, has touched off a flurry of archaeological excavations attempting to beat the bulldozers.

The finds so far range from prehistoric settlements to 2,500-year-old cemeteries to ruins from the Roman period, when Emperor Theodosius abolished the Olympics in 394 after Christianity took root. He deemed them pagan.

"I don’t believe there was ever such a large-scale archaeological excavation in Athens," said Dina Kaza, who heads the excavation at the old seaside airport.

Extra archaeologists and specialised researchers have been hired. Crews have worked round-the-clock shifts to keep pace with Olympic construction, which is moving at full speed to compensate for years of delays. The Games are to begin on 13 August.

Ms Kaza, who oversees excavations in five Olympic-related sites, says the finds so far have not been headline-making - like the back-to-back discoveries in 1997 of sites believed to be the lyceum, or school, of Aristotle, and an ancient cemetery mentioned as the burial place of the statesman Pericles.

But the quantity of finds adds richness to the understanding of how Athens developed over the centuries. "We never know what the ground is hiding from us," explained Ms Kaza.

One site, at the new tram-line storage shed, offered up 150 graves from the 7th century BC.

Another archaeologist, Maria Platonos, uncovered a ceramic vessel depicting a victorious javelin thrower at a cemetery from the Classical period, spanning from 500 BC to 323 BC, on a road to the Olympic Village north of central Athens.

The athlete is being crowned with ribbons by two messengers from Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, said Ms Platonos, who heads excavations at the Olympic Village. The artefact, dating from 470BC, had been used at a victory ceremony and was later placed on the grave of the man awarded the prize.

"Finding this in the area of the Olympic Village was truly something unexpected and very fortunate," she added.

At times, the antiquities were so massive that relocation was not an option.

Ms Platonos’s team at the village discovered an extensive system of underground pipelines from the Roman period used to supply Athens with water from the nearby Parnitha mountain. The system was in use until the 19th century.

"This pipe was excavated and cleaned, and now there are plans to make this monument more visible along the zone of greenery at the Olympic Village," said Ms Platonos

At the rowing centre in Schinias, 18 miles north-east of Athens, researchers found three early Bronze Age dwellings from about 4,000 years ago. Some of the ruins were relocated to allow construction of the Olympic venue.

Construction of a road to Athens’ new airport uncovered another roadway and building foundations at least 2,500 years old.

"They indicate an economically vibrant community," said Kasimi Soutou, who oversees the excavation.

The archaeological council ruled to preserve the ancient foundations around the old roadway, but the roadway itself will be paved over after any antiquities are removed.

The sports complex on the site of Athens’ former international airport - which also will host baseball, fencing and other sports - is among the most delayed of Olympic sites. Archaeologists argue that the delays are not their fault. "We always have this problem," said Ms Kaza. "The archaeological work always starts at the last minute, when it could have started a long time ago, but the construction plans were not ready on time.

"We are racing until the last minute and they tell us to finish as they have to finish, too."

News of the finds comes as British athletes called for Britain to return the Elgin Marbles.

Allan Wells, the Scottish sprinter who won gold in Moscow in 1980 for the 100m, is among the group of athletes who say Greece has a moral right to the artefacts.