Mycenaean chamber tomb

Mycenaean chamber tombs originated in Messenia at the end of the Middle Helladic period (c. 1600 BCE),[1] and were built and used throughout the Late Bronze Age across the Aegean area.

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.

[3] The earliest chamber tombs are found in the MH III period in Messenia,[1] followed closely by LH I examples throughout central and southern Greece, particularly in the Argolid.

At Mycenae, they appear to have displaced all other forms of elite burial, except tholoi, and have been closely linked with the development and consolidation of the palatial state in LH III.

[16] 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.

[3] 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,[20] and the practice is observed elsewhere in the Greek world between 1050 and 600 BCE, particularly in Messenia, Attica and Boeotia.

[22] Scholars debate the relationship in design between chamber tombs and tholoi, which appeared in Greece approximately simultaneously at the end of MH III, and were both first used in Messenia.

[26] 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 dromos in funerary ritual.

[27] At the end of the period, however, in LH IIIC, the opposite trend is observed: dromoi become shorter and less attention appears to be paid to the carving and decoration of the façade of the stomion, perhaps indicating the declining importance of any rituals that took place there.

[37] 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.