This sarcophagus, made from cypress and yew, was discovered in 1837 near Kerch at the eastern end of the Crimea. It lay in a stone tomb 7.5 metres down in the Zmeiny (Snake) burial mound. The upper part of the wooden sarcophagus that was decorated with sculpture, ivory and mother-of-pearl inlay, bright polychrome painting and gilding has not survived. Panels on the side wall are decorated with gilded wooden reliefs depicting Hera and Apollo. The value of the surviving artefact is all the greater as hardly any woodcarving has survived from Ancient Greece. Only two museums in the world can boast large collections of ancient sarcophagi and other wooden items - the Hermitage and the Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria.