Residents said Thursday they will ban further excavations around the gold-filled tomb of the father of Alexander the Great until plans for a museum are approved. ``The finds from Vergina should be displayed in a museum here, where they come from. People are protesting because they're tired of government promises that it will be built one day,'' said Mayor Andreas Vlazakis. Artifacts from the tomb _ including priceless gold-decorated armor, gold wreaths and jewelery _ are displayed in the Salonica Museum, 44 miles away. Vergina first made headlines in 1977 when Professor Manolis Andronikos of Salonica University unearthed the tomb of King Philip of Macedon beneath a mound in the village. Andronikos, who has excavated at Vergina for 50 years, said he wouldn't challenge the digging ban, but added: ``I feel very bitter and I hope reason will prevail.'' Alexander the Great became ruler of Macedon when his father was assassinated at a wedding feast in 336 B.C.
