The skeleton was found inside a rectangular grave with pieces from the wooden casket and bones scattered around the area. The grave, which lies 1.60 m below the floor level, was found in the third chamber of the massive tomb site.

Experts will examine the findings in the coming days, the ministry said.

This is very curious to me as I was under the impression that the Late Classical Macedonians exclusively used cremation for burials. The Tomb of Phillip II, for example, had cremated remains, not skeletons.

The largest archaeological find of its kind in Greece has set off speculation and thrilled Greeks, reminding them they are rich in history.

Early last month, on a hill outside a tiny, windy village of almond and tobacco farmers in northeastern Greece, veteran archaeologist Katerina Peristeri announced that she and her team had discovered what is believed to be the biggest tomb in Greece.

The “massive, magnificent tomb,” Peristeri told reporters, is likely connected to the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia, which, in the fourth century B.C. produced Alexander the Great.

Shortly after Peristeri’s announcement, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras held his own press conference at the site — known as Amphipolis — declaring it an “exceptionally important discovery” from the “earth of our Macedonia.”

And since then there have been daily reports in the Greek media, even though Peristeri and her team have refused interviews. They release each tidbit of news — each discovery of a caryatid, sphinx and other impressive artifacts — in press releases through the Greek Ministry of Culture.

The “Macedonian Treasures” exhibition will be inaugurated at the Pellas Archaeological Museum in northern Greece on Friday and it is scheduled to run until September 30, 2015.

The unique exhibits recovered from royal graves in the Aiges and Archontiko necropolises include many items which are displayed for the first time in Greece, such as gold wreaths, gold masks, weapons, unique sculptures and vessels of alabaster, metal or pottery that were uncovered over 25 years of archaeological excavation at the two sites.

Some of the antiquities were loaned to major exhibitions held at Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum and at the Louvre in Paris in 2011. Now they will return to their country of origen to win the admiration of the Greek audience.

The exhibition’s aim is to present a comprehensive picture of the civilization that formed in the heart of Macedonia during the Archaic and early Classical eras, at a time of fundamental change that laid the foundations for the later Macedonian kingdoms.