About 8 miles south of Sparta one can find the Vafio hill. Excavations brought to light a Mycenaean behive tomb containing splendid gold and silver artifacts, some of which are exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Athens.

    This is one of the most important archaeological discoveries in Greece . The findings from Vafio, underline the significance of the region in the post - Hellenic Mycenaean years.

   The Mycenaean vaulted tomb of Vafion, constructed from small, chiseled stones, has been the subject of many archaeological project and has acquired international fame because of the two golden cups found inside. These cups, bearing depictions of wild bull hunting, can be seen at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, and even though the location of the palace of Mycenaean Sparta has not been identified, they constitute irrefutable evidence of the prosperity and development of the region much earlier than 1000 B.C. The region's significance has been corroborated by the discovery of Mycenaean graves in the location :"Spilakia"