Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-wq484 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T13:18:12.663Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cist graves and Chamber Tombs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

O. T. P. K. Dickinson
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The two categories of tomb are defined. Burial practice in Greece from MH onwards is discussed, chamber tombs being established as canonical in LH I, though these are not universal, and cist and pit burials continue. Chamber and tholos tombs occur over a wide area of the mainland in LH II; after LH II, except for children's burials, pits and cists are relatively rare, though they are found in chamber tombs. It is argued that chamber tombs were the general form of burial, and that cists and pits were not used, separately, for poor burials. Chamber tombs continue to be general in LH IIIC: simpler requirements and cremation lead to a revival of cists and pits, though chamber tombs do not totally die out, and in Crete continue to be the preferred form in Archaic times.

Type
Research Article
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 78 , November 1983 , pp. 55 - 67
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

AcknowledgementsThis is a revised version of a paper read to the Mycenaean Seminar of the Institute of Classical Studies, London University, in October 1981; I am grateful to Professor J. N. Coldstream and Mr. J. T. Hooker for the chance to work out and present my ideas, and to the participants in the Seminar for a lively discussion, but take sole responsibility for the views expressed.

Abbreviations. The following are used in addition to those in common use:

GDA Desborough, V. R., The Greek Dark Ages (1972).Google Scholar

Origins Dickinson, O. T. P. K., The Origins of Mycenaean Civilisation (Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology 49, 1977).Google Scholar

SIMA 52 Simpson, R. Hope and Dickinson, O. T. P. K., A Gazetteer of Aegean Civilisation in the Bronze Age, Part I: The Mainland and Islands (Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology 52, 1979).Google Scholar

Since much of the ground I shall be covering has already been covered in these, I have made extensive use of them as references for fuller discussion or collection of sources.

1 Tsountas, C. and Manatt, J. I., The Mycenaean Age (1897) 131. 142, 151.Google Scholar

2 Taylour, Lord William, The Mycenaeans (1964) 86Google Scholar; McDonald, W. A. and Rapp, G. Jr (edd.), The Minnesota Messenia Expedition (1972) 138Google Scholar; Bintliff, J. L., Natural Environment and Human Settlement in Prehistoric Greece (1977) 289Google Scholar; cf also Vermeule, E., Greece in the Bronze Age (1964) 156.Google Scholar

3 Taylour, loc. cit.; Bintliff, loc. cit.

4 Most recently and emphatically, Hooker, J. T., Mycenaean Greece (1977) 179.Google Scholar

5 Hooker, ibid.; GDA 109–11; Snodgrass, A. M., The Dark Age of Greece (1971) 186–7, 385.Google Scholar

6 GDA 107–8 and PPS 31 (1965) 216–18, 221–2; Snodgrass, op. cit. (n. 5) 179–84.

7 On the criteria stated, virtually all the graves of Circle B are of this type, as are those of Circle A but almost no others at Mycenae; see further Origins 42, 51. Lerna, : Archaeology 13 (1960) 130–2Google Scholar; Argos, : ADelt 28 (1973) B 108, 29 (1973–4) B 206Google Scholar; Schachermeyr, F., Die ägäische Frühzeit I (1976) 256–7.Google Scholar

8 Archaeologia 59 (1905) 401–5, BSA 47 (1952) 245–6, 249, AR 1978 945–6.

9 Athens: Pantelidou, M., Αἱ προϊστορικαὶ Ἀθῆναι (Athens Ph.D. thesis 1975) 95–106Google Scholar; Perati: Iakovidis, S., Excavations of the Necropolis of Perati (1980) 7.Google Scholar The exact type of the ‘LH II shaft’ of Vari-Varkiza, (Antiquity 24 (1960) 266 n. 4)Google Scholar remains unknown.

10 Kambi, : ADelt 28 (1973) A 199, 202–3 (Ts. II, IX, XIV)Google Scholar; Alyki, : PAE (1957) 31–2.Google Scholar

11 Origins 115 (Ch. III (5) n. 9) for some references; see also AR 1976–7 32 (the ‘Shaft Grave’) and 1980 1 16 for Laconian examples.

12 Deshayes, J., Argos: les fouilles de la Deiras (1965) 30Google Scholar (Ts. 1 and 2 associated with T. XII), 39 (T. 5 associated with T. XIII),62 (Ts. 12 and 13 aligned with neighbouring tombs), 86 (T. 22 in dromos of T. XXVII), 101 (T. 28 in dromos of T. XXVIII), 103 (Ts. 27 and 29 closely aligned with dromos of T. XXIV), 109 (T. 28 in dromos of T. XXXV).

13 Archaeologia 59 (1905) 405–9, BSA 47 (1952) 251–2, AR 1978–946.

14 Argolid: Tiryns Ts. III, IV (Tiryns VI 29–30, 32); Deiras T. 26 (Deshayes, op. cit. (n. 12) 104); Nauplia, (PAE (1953) 204)Google Scholar; Galataki, (PAE (1958) 136)Google Scholar; Attica: Athens Agora T. XXIX seems closely related (Agora XIII 231); Alyki Ts. E, Z (PAE (1955) 99); Boeotia: Tanagra, (PAE (1977) 24–5Google Scholar, Ergon (1980) 21–2); Pylos: in dromos of T. E-10 (Pylos III 208).

15 PAE (1974) 141–4 (1975) 431–512.

16 PAE (1970) 9–18.

17 BSA 25 (1921–3) 406–7.

18 See under ‘cists and pit graves’ and ‘rock cut (chamber) tombs’ in SIMA 52, 427 8; add to latter A 52, Old Corinth (AJA 1 (1897) 513 15).

19 SIMA 52, 204.

20 References are collected in Origins 115 (Ch. III (3) n. 3).

21 See further Origins 34 and SIMA 2, 429 under ‘tumuli and burial mounds’, to which add D 8, Voidhokoilia, (PAE (1977) 262–88Google Scholar, (1978) 353–9, (1979) 143–9) and F 29, Thorikos, (AR 1979–1980 19).Google Scholar A whole series of tumuli has been claimed for Argos; see particularly ADelt 29 (1973–4) B 207 8, AR 1978–9 14, 1979–80 25, Schachermeyr, op. cit. (n. 7) 256 8, ΠΕΛΟΠΩΝΝΗΣΙΑΚΑ Π 14 (1980–1) 222–31.

22 As at Voidhokoilia (op. cit. (n. 21)) and Pappoulia, (PAE (1978) 326–32).Google Scholar

23 See most recently BSA 70 (1975) 145–9.

24 Blackburn, E. Tucker, ‘Middle Helladic Graves and Burial Customs with Special Reference to Lerna in the Argolid’ (Cincinnati Ph.D. thesis 1970) 285Google Scholar; there are various references in the sources already cited for Argos in nn. 7 and 21.

25 Tucker Blackburn, op. cit. (n. 24) Ch. II, and on reuse 18, 291.

26 Argos T. 301 (BCH 92 (1968) 1038–9); Volimidia, Kephalovryso T. 1 (PAE (1964) 86–9).

27 Osmanaga, : Hesperia 23 (1954) 158–62Google Scholar; Nikitopoulou, T. 4: AE (1973) 39 45Google Scholar; Pylos ‘Grave Circle’: Pylos III 148–56, see comments in SIMA 52, 159 and Pelon, O., Tholoi, tumuli et cercles funéraires (1976) 396–7.Google Scholar

28 Origins 62, SIMA 52 under D 1, 35, 54, 100, 200, to which add Voidhokoilia, D 8 (PAE (1977) 293–4, (1978) 334)Google Scholar; the arguments for Kakovatos, B 94, in PAE (1976) 277Google Scholar do not seem conclusive to me.

29 References are gathered under D 20 in SIMA 52.

30 PAE (1976) 485–501, (1977) 307 15.

31 For fuller discussion and references see Origins 63–4.

32 Mylonas, G., Τὸ Δύτικον Νεκροταφεῖον τῆς Ἐλευσῖνος 3 (1975) Pls. 126: 660 1 and 129: 662–3Google Scholar show the most certain examples of LH I style, from small cists, Θπ13, 14, but Pl. 60: 485 from the gamma-shaped tomb Hπ3 is also very likely (Pl. 62: 495, 502, and even Pl. 61: 493 might go with this, but could equally well be early LH IIA), also Pl. 67: 506 from Hπ5, which has a good parallel from Prosymna (Prosymna fig. 654). But many of the small vases decorated in MH styles are probably contemporary with LH I, also plain goblets like Pl. 56: 477 from Hπ1, so that many more tombs or burials are potentially of similar date.

33 ADelt 28 (1973) B 98 (Prokopiou T. XXVIII).

34 Origins 58, 65, to which more examples from Argos (in the tumuli) and Eleusis (the West Cemetery, see n. 32) can be added; Kafkania should be deleted, as LH IIIC (see below). The Athens tomb is fully published in Pantelidou, op. cit. (n. 9) 61–6; I assume that all the goods belong to a single burial and would classify the small jars as LH I. The Pitsa grave-eroup (A 81 in SIMA 52) may well be from a pit or cist. At Thebes, graves in the cemetery at site 18 and the rich grave at site II 1 in Konsola, D., Προμυκηναϊκὴ Θήβα (Ph.D. thesis, Athens 1981) 86–7Google Scholar, belong to the MH-LH transition if not to LH I.

35 Origins 60; the indications of circular peribolos-walls at both sites, as well as the stratigraphy at Samikon, suggest that these are tumuli and not pit-cemeteries, as has been suggested to me by Professor S. Iakovidis.

36 Origins 64, to which add examples from Argos, (ADelt 26 (1971) B 76–8)Google Scholar, Nauplia (ibid. 28 (1973) B 91–2, 29 (1973–4) B 202), and Kokla, south of Argos (1982 excavations; I am indebted to Dr. K. Demakopoulou-Papantoniou for permission to mention these and for showing me some of the material and photographs).

37 Origins 63 4.

38 ADelt 19 (1964) B 261, referring to SIMA 52, H 57; cf. other tombs at H 4, 13, 14, 22?, 31, 33?, 38?, 48, 63 in Thessaly, D 25, 53, 100 in Messenia, C 9, 27 (not cited here, but see under Strategos, Ay. in BSA 55 (1960) 87)Google Scholar in Laconia, B 8 in Arcadia, E 23 and 39 in the Ionian Islands.

39 Argolid: Mycenae, (PAE (1972) 115–16)Google Scholar; Prosymna Ts. 21B, 25 (Prosymna 42, 45); Kokla (information from Dr. K. Demakopoulou-Papantoniou); Attica: for Athens see plan, Agora XIII Pl. 91; Alyki, : PAE (1955) 99Google Scholar; Vari-Varkiza, : AAA 7 (1974) 422–32Google Scholar; Perati: Iakovidis, loc. cit. (n. 9). At Pylos, T. E-3 is on the same slope as the chamber tombs, though separated (Pylos III 176–8). Occasional pits are found in the Ialysos chamber tomb cemeteries: ASAtene 6–7 (1923–4) 194, 196 (Ts. 39, 41), 13 14 (1930 1) 279, 304, 311 (Ts. 68, 76, 81, none quite so clear examples).

40 Vatin, C., Médéon de Phocide (1969) 44–5.Google Scholar

41 SIMA 52 under G 48, 52 for Phocis, H 25, 36?, 40, and J 15 for Thessaly.

42 AAA 3 (1970) 198–203.

43 Kirrha 116–24: decorated vases from Ts. 10, 24, and 42, and weapons from Ts. 5 and 18 are classifiable as LH II (the latter on the basis of their associations elsewhere); most if not all the other tombs classified as MH IIIB and LH I are likely to belong to the transitional MH-LH stage at carliest and may well be of equivalent date to LH I in most cases.

44 Skoura: Papadopoulos, T. J., Mycenaean Achaea (1979) 33Google Scholar; SIMA 52, 350 (Soroni on Rhodes), 370 (Emporio), 371 (Psara).

45 SIMA 52, K 6, 8, 9, to especially.

46 BSA 72 (1977) 113–19.

47 ADelt 27 (1972) B 256 7.

48 McDonald and Rapp, op. cit. (n. 2) 138.

49 e.g. the ‘warrior graves’ of Volos (n. 42), several at Medeon (Vatin, op. cit. (n. 40), 18 (T. 99), 22 (Ts. 29, 29 bis), 29 (T. 162)), and the Lily Bowl Grave at Athens (Agora XIII 205–8).

50 Clearest in South Tholos at Peristeria, (PAE (1976) 510)Google Scholar, also the Pylos ‘Grave Circle’ if it is accepted that this is a tholos tomb, see references in n. 27; it is not impossible that some of the numerous large LH IIA jars in other early tholoi could have served to hold skeletal remains, like one in the ‘Grave Circle’.

51 As argued by Cavanagh, and Laxton, in BSA 76 (1981) 132–3Google Scholar on structural grounds.

52 Origins 61 for a fuller discussion, with references for these and the Phylakopi tombs.

53 e.g. by Renfrew, in The Emergence of Civilisation (1972) 189, 511.Google Scholar

54 See SIMA 52, under Ialysos (348), Kos: Langada (361), for full references for the cemeteries; for Müsgebi, see AJA 60 (1965) 140, 62 (1967) 163Google Scholar, Anadolu 11 (1967) 31–9.

55 Deshayes, op. cit. (n. 12) 69–70 (T. 8: a horse and two persons), 78 (T. 18: at least seven persons).

56 SIMA 52, 246 (Thebes) and under F47 (Spata).

57 SIMA 52, 153.

58 ADelt (1974) A 25–58.

59 GDA 72–3 (Argos), 81 (Epidauros Limera, cf. SIMA 52 under C 35), 82 (Grotta); Styrenius, C.-G., Submycenaean Studies (1967) 126Google Scholar (Achaea; Palaiokastro, cf. SIMA 52 under B 32), 134 with fig. 51 (Nauplia); ADelt 25 (1970) B 71 with Pl. 628 (Athens), cf. also 20 (1965) B Pl. 99 for vases from Salamis (SIMA 52, under F 12, is probably too dogmatic, but α: third from right and β: right could be ‘Submycenaean’, though comparable vases are common at Perati); see further Papadopoulos, op. cit. (n. 44) 173 on the Achaean cemeteries, also GDA 93 (on duck vases) and SIMA 52, under B 38 and 44 and E 48.

60 GDA 72–3 (Argos), 81–2 (Perati), 90–1 (Kephallenia); Papadopoulos, op. cit. (n. 44) 138 (fibulae), 162 3 (a shield boss).

61 ADelt 25 (1970) B 237 40, 26 (1971) B 231–2: pins, fibulae (including the arched type), and a ring with spiral terminals are reported.

62 GDA 83 (Asarlik), 84–5 (Tragana).

63 For a good discussion see Desborough, V. R., Last Mycenaeans and their Successors (1964) 103–4.Google Scholar

64 GDA 102 (Thessaly), 251–4 (Messenia).

65 GDA 95, 103, SIMA 52, B 103, G 55 for Lithovouni and Delphi respectively.

66 Kurtz, D. C. and Boardman, J., Greek Burial Customs (1971).Google Scholar