Several groups of ivory artifacts were found in the ivory workshops outside the acropolis at Mycenae, and individual items were dispersed both inside and outside the citadel (14th - 13th cent. B.C.). Elephant and hippopotamus tusks were used as raw materials. Ivory plaques, which once decorated luxury furniture, come in various shapes and bear various motifs. Some of the ivory inlays, in this case, were found in the 'House of the Sphinxes' and were burnt during the fire which destroyed these buildings at the end of the 13th century. The plaques with the heraldic opposing sphinxes and the inlays in the shape of figure-of-eight shields gave these buildings the above conventional names.

4. Representation of the wing of a sphinx or griffin. Inv. no. 2726. National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece.