Mycenaean chamber tomb

File:Aidonia-Tomb 10 3.JPG

View into chamber tomb 10 at Aidonia, Corinthia, looking down the at the

A Mycenaean chamber tomb is the type of chamber tomb that was built in Mycenaean Greece. Mycenaean chamber tombs originated in Messenia at the end of the Middle Helladic period (c. Template:Trim),Template:Sfn and were built and used throughout the Late Bronze Age across the Aegean area.

Mycenaean chamber tombs were cut into the bedrock (as opposed to the contemporary tombs, which are constructed from masonry), usually on sloping terrain, and formed of a chamber (), joined to a rectangular passageway () by a threshold (). The size, elaboration and monumentality of Mycenaean chamber tombs varies considerably, as do the grave goods found within them, suggesting that they were used for the burials of people across a wide range of social strata.Template:Sfn

After the end of the Bronze Age, chamber tombs ceased to be constructed in most parts of the Greek world, though some continued in use for votive offerings and hero cult during the Early Iron Age.Template:Sfn

Chronological development

The major periods of the Helladic chronology used in this article

Period	Approximate Date
Middle Helladic III	c. Template:Trim – c. 1600 BCETemplate:Sfn
Late Helladic I	c. Template:Trim – c. 1450 BCETemplate:Sfn
Late Helladic II	c. Template:Trim – c. 1400 BCETemplate:Sfn
Late Helladic IIIA	c. Template:Trim – c. 1300 BCETemplate:Sfn
Late Helladic IIIB	c. Template:Trim – c. 1180 BCETemplate:Sfn
Late Helladic IIIC	c. Template:Trim – c. 1050 BCETemplate:Sfn

The earliest chamber tombs are found in the MH III period in Messenia,Template:Sfn followed closely by LH I examples throughout central and southern Greece, particularly in the Argolid.Template:Sfn They remain relatively uncommon, except at Mycenae, until LH III,Template:Sfn when they were constructed widely across the Aegean region associated with Mycenaean culture.Template:Sfn

Chamber tombs continued to be constructed throughout the Mycenaean period, though regional differences are observed as to their popularity and likely social function. At Mycenae, they appear to have displaced all other forms of elite burial, except , and have been closely linked with the development and consolidation of the palatial state in LH III.Template:Sfn Around three hundred chamber tombs are known from the area of Mycenae.Template:Sfn It has been suggested that the chamber tombs at Mycenae represent lower-ranked members of the palatial elite, while were reserved for the most elite, perhaps the and other high-ranking figures known from Linear B.Template:Sfn In Boeotia, however, only one tomb is known (the so-called Treasury of Minyas at Orchomenos, dating to c. Template:Trim), while chamber tombs seem to have been the predominant form of burial for all elite groups,Template:Sfn including the monumental chamber tomb at Megalo Kastelli, which has been linked with the rulers of Thebes.Template:Sfn

In Achaia, chamber tombs seem to be associated with emergent local elites in the LH II period,Template:Sfn but displace even simple grave types, such as pit and cist graves, by LH III.Template:Sfn In this period in Achaia, there seems to have been little association, unlike in the Argolid, between social hierarchy and the use of chamber tombs: relatively simple tombs, such as those at Aidonia, with relatively simple grave goods are found alongside monumental examples, such as Tomb 4 at Voundeni – a large LH IIIA chamber tomb with a of and a in area,Template:Sfn whose extensive and valuable grave goods have led to the scholarly consensus that the single original burial in the tomb represents a local ruler.Template:Sfn Rather than carrying a universal meaning, it is likely that the social and symbolic significance of chamber tombs, as well as the nature of the communities using them, varied across the Mycenaean world according to local practices and concerns.Template:Sfn

File:Chamber tomb 16 of Dendra 2.JPG

Chamber tomb 16 at Dendra, showing the view of the from outside the tomb

Except in Thessaly and Crete,Template:Sfn the construction of chamber tombs ceased after the Late Bronze Age Collapse (c. Template:Trim), though some examples continued to be re-used for votive offerings, hero cult and occasionally burialsTemplate:Sfn during the Early Iron Age.Template:Sfn Nearly a third of the chamber tombs excavated by Carl Blegen at Prosymna in the Argolid showed evidence of votive offerings from the Geometric or Archaic periods,Template:Sfn and the practice is observed elsewhere in the Greek world between 1050 and 600 BCE, particularly in Messenia, Attica and Boeotia.Template:Sfn

Construction

File:Chamber tombs.jpg

Schematic diagram of a typical chamber tomb, showing division into , and

Chamber tombs are cut from bedrock and usually divide into a tripartite structure of ('passageway'), ('threshold') and ('chamber'). Some examples include pits, side chambers or niches into which primary or secondary burials may have been deposited. The division between , and has been interpreted as the creation of a 'boundary zone between the living and the dead'.Template:Sfn

Scholars debate the relationship in design between chamber tombs and , which appeared in Greece approximately simultaneously at the end of MH III, and were both first used in Messenia.Template:Sfn According to one school of thought, chamber tombs became popular in imitation of , following the same fundamental form but avoiding the significant expenditure of resources and labour in constructing a tomb from ashlar masonry.Template:Sfn Another interpretation sees chamber tombs as a successor to Middle Helladic tumulus burial, developing in parallel with rather than as an imitation of them.Template:Sfn

The specific design of chamber tombs could vary according to local geographic and social considerations. At Thorikos, for instance, so-called "built" chamber tombs of limestone masonry, with short passages approaching one side of the , were constructed, likely in response to the hard limestone ground, which would have made cutting a long impractical.Template:Sfn At Thebes, the so-called "Painted Chamber" tomb has two parallel , approaching two large chambers, connected by a doorway.Template:Sfn

From LH II

1. REDIRECT Template:En dash

Template:R protectedIIIA1 onwards, certain monumental chamber tombs had the façade of the , and sometimes the walls of the , decorated with painted plaster. This phenomenon is particularly known in the Argolid, particularly at Mycenae and Prosymna, but examples are known from elsewhere, including Prosilio 2 and from Thebes.Template:Sfn Over the course of the Late Helladic, a trend is observed for the length of the to increase, both in absolute measurement and relative to the size of the .Template:Sfn Tomb 505 at Mycenae, for example, has a over in length.Template:Sfn This may be associated with an increasing desire to show wealth and power through a large, impressive tomb, or may reflect the growing importance of the in funerary ritual.Template:Sfn At the end of the period, however, in LH IIIC, the opposite trend is observed: become shorter and less attention appears to be paid to the carving and decoration of the façade of the , perhaps indicating the declining importance of any rituals that took place there.Template:Sfn

So-called "built" chamber tombs, such as those at Thorikos and other examples at sites including Marathon, Portes and Mitrou, are similarly cut from rock but include masonry on the interior. These appear earlier than true chamber tombs, often lack a , and may have developed separately.Template:Sfn

Funerary practices

File:Lamenting the child, painting on larnax, Tanagra, Late Helladic, AM Thebes, 0126.jpg

A funerary scene of lamentation over a child's body, painted on a from Tanagra, LH III

Chamber tombs were generally used for multiple burial and re-used over multiple generations.Template:Sfn Work at Ayia Sotira in the Nemea valley has highlighted the efforts made by those using the tombs to carry on re-using them, even when the tomb had partially collapsed and doing so was difficult.Template:Sfn The tombs are often assumed to have been used for members of the same family, though solid evidence is lacking as to the precise kinship between people buried in the same tomb.Template:Sfn

There is tentative evidence for funerary processions towards Mycenaean chamber tombs;Template:Sfn it has therefore often been assumed that the body would be transported to the tomb on a wheeled vehicle,Template:Sfn though the location of some cemeteries around Mycenae indicates that at least the final part of this procession must sometimes have taken part on foot.Template:Sfn

Almost all Mycenaean burials in chamber tombs, particularly before LH IIIC,Template:Sfn are inhumations rather than cremations,Template:Sfn though post-Mycenaean cremation burials are sometimes found in the upper levels of the of Mycenaean tombs.Template:Sfn In most parts of the Aegean world, bodies were laid on the floor of the , sometimes in pits dug into it or a side chamber. At Tanagra in Boeotia, however, it was common to inter the body within a larnax, a practice only otherwise attested on Minoan Crete.Template:Sfn It was common for previous burials to be rearranged, relocated and perhaps sometimes removed when a tomb was re-opened for a later interment.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The burials of children were often made in small niches in the wall of the .Template:Sfn

It was common for grave goods to be deposited in chamber tombs: these usually included ceramics, but could vary considerably based on the social status of the deceased.Template:Sfn While most of the grave goods in the Aidonia tombs were relatively modest,Template:Sfn for example, Tomb 2 at Prosilio in Boeotia included weaponry, gold and faience jewellery, and a signet ring.Template:Sfn Fragments of are routinely found in the and sometimes of tombs, suggesting that libations or drinking may have played a role in the funerary ritual,Template:Sfn while it is also common to find animal bones and the remains of food production, either for consumption at the tomb or perhaps as an offering to the dead.Template:Sfn

After a burial in the , the would be sealed, often with a dry-stone wall: it is possible that the un-sealing of this barrier for further burials or offerings carried significant ritual significance.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Tombs were generally filled with earth shortly after use,Template:Sfn and not generally marked above ground: only a few examples of tomb markers are known,Template:Sfn though it has been hypothesised that some may have been marked by wooden .Template:Sfn It is not uncommon to find evidence of the construction of tombs being abandoned when the builders ran into an existing tomb that was not visible from the surface.

Gallery

• Photograph of a chamber tomb, with the doorway visible.
  A chamber tomb at Aidonia in the Corinthia
• The Script error: No such module "lang". of chamber tomb A at Palaia Epidavros in the Argolid, viewed from the Script error: No such module "lang".
  The of chamber tomb A at Palaia Epidavros in the Argolid, viewed from the
• The Script error: No such module "lang". of chamber tomb 14 at Kato Almyri, Corinthia
  The of chamber tomb 14 at Kato Almyri, Corinthia
• Ceramic finds from chamber tombs 10 and 11 at Aidonia
  Ceramic finds from chamber tombs 10 and 11 at Aidonia
• A boar's tusk helmet found in chamber tomb 515 at Mycenae
  A boar's tusk helmet found in chamber tomb 515 at Mycenae
• Chamber tombs at Aidonia, with corrugated iron sheets to protect the Script error: No such module "lang". from erosion
  Chamber tombs at Aidonia, with corrugated iron sheets to protect the from erosion

See also

• Mycenaean shaft tombs
• Tholoi

Bibliography

• Template:Cite thesis