Chryssolakkos means the "pit of gold". This is where the ancientnecropolis (royal burial enclosure or cemetery, 1700 BCE) inMalia, an ancientMinoan town inCrete,Greece, is located. As well as the famousMalia Pendant, it is commonly thought that the so-calledAegina Treasure ofMinoan jewellery in theBritish Museum was excavated here by local people in the 19th century.[1]
TheMalia Pendant, on display at theHeraklion Archaeological Museum as of 2020[update], was found here and is of high quality goldsmithery of the Minoan times. The jewel takes the form of two insects, which are identical (mirror images) joined head-to-head with the tips of their abdomens almost touching in a symmetrical or heraldic arrangement. The insects’ wings spread backwards. From the lower edges of the wings and a point close to the tip of the abdomen dangle three discs. With their legs, the insects are "grasping" a centrally placed circular disc and there is a second, smaller, smooth globule placed above this and between the insects' heads as if they were eating it.Megascolia maculata, awasp, was proposed as the model for the insects, and the fruits of a native Cretan herbTordylium apulum as a model for the three discs that are suspended from the pendant,[2] though most scholars are happy to regard them as bees, perhaps over ahoneycomb.[3]
35°17′53″N25°29′36″E / 35.29806°N 25.49333°E /35.29806; 25.49333
