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Late Burials from Mycenae1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

V. R. Desborough
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Extract

This cist tomb was uncovered in 1959 during the excavation of the House of Sphinxes,2 and it lay at a distance of only 2 m. from tomb PG 606 (see fig. I and BSA li. 114 fig. 5).

It was built on the rock where there was a natural angle and a fairly sharp slope from west to east. The floor of the tomb was in fact for the most part the rock itself, but at the east end a number of small stones, overlying Mycenaean debris, were used. It was of rectangular shape, and orientated W.-E. The west and south walls of the tomb were provided by the rock; two large worked slabs, set upright, formed the north-east corner, and for the rest natural stones were used to line the tomb. There was no evidence of any roofing slabs, nor can one see how such could have been fixed. The inner dimensions were 1·78 × 0·68 m., and the two walling slabs had a height of 0·60 m.

Type
Research Article
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 68 , November 1973 , pp. 87 - 101
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1973

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References

2 Archaeological Reports for 1959–60, 9.

3 The information as to sex and age of this skeleton, and of those found in the Citadel House, has been taken from the expert analyses of Dr. J. L. Angel.

4 There are numerous passages where this material is mentioned, in addition to the references given in the catalogue; for the relative chronology see CGA 172 f.

5 GGP 115–17 pl. 23.

6 GGP 117.

7 Loc. cit.

8 BSA xlix. 264 f.

9 BSA l. 242.

10 BSA xlix. 261 f. Note the MG II amphora from Tiryns tomb XVI (AM lxxviii. 34 pl. 12.6: Verdelis cites other vases from Argos and Corinthia).

11 CGA 29 ff., 70 ff., 235 ff, 467 f.

12 CGA 468.

13 BSA l. 242 pl. 4gf. It is curious that in each case the rings were associated with one ear only.

14 AM lxxviii. 7 fig. 3.

15 At Mycenae the type is already found in the earliest Geometric phase (BSA 1. 242 fig. 3, tomb G 603), and later ones were recovered from tomb G. II (BSA xlix. 263 pl. 45) and tomb 605 (BSA li. 128 pl. 35a). For a selection from Tiryns see AM lxxviii. 23 fig. 12.

16 BSA l. 241.

17 BSA xxv. 32 fig. 8b; 33 fig. 9b.

18 BCH lxxvii. 262 fig. 55.

19 The practice also persisted strongly at Lefkandi, but that need not constitute evidence for a link between Euboea and Argolid.

20 Styrenius, Submycenaean Studies fig. 51.

21 PGP 210. Corinth: AJA xxxv. 426 fig. 3 (lekythos); Mycenae: PGP 210 pl. 28B (two lekythoi); Tiryns: Tiryns i. 129, 141 pl. 16.10 (spouted oinochoe).

22 Cf. BSA xlix. 262 pl. 46, grave G. II nos. 11–14.

23 BSA 1. pl. 47c (jug); BSA li. pis. 34a and 35c (bellyhandled amphora and saucer of Pie Ware, jug and lamp (?)).

24 Argos: BCH lxxxi. 656, corrected in CGA 164 (tomb 73); ADelt xvii. 2, 55 f. pl. 60a (tomb B). Asine: Asine 131, 139 (PG tombs 10 and 43, on the assumption that the ‘bronze head’ to these iron pins was in fact a bronze bulb). Tiryns, : AM lxxviii. 26 and pl. 10. 4 (tomb V)Google Scholar; ADelt xxiv. 2, 104.

25 See GDA 299 for its significance and distribution.

26 PGP 4.

27 AM lxxviii. 148 fr., fig. 54.

28 Ker. i pls. 61, 63–5.

29 Styrenius, Submycenaean Studies fig. 58.

30 Mycenae and Tiryns 65 no. 26. The handle of this one joins the rim; note the rough modelling of the foot, similar to that of our lekythos 4.

31 Submycenaean Studies fig. 52 (Athens NM 1104).

32 PGP 210 pl. 28B nos. 112, 113.

33 Op. cit. pl. 28B, no. 111.

34 Are they also the forerunners of the Late Protogeometric lekythos found in tomb PG 27 at Asine (Asine 430 fig. 279)? This is not so certain, as by that time the influence of the Athenian style was strong, and it may rather be this that is reflected. In any case, my attribution, in PGP 210, of Athenian influence on three of the lekythoi from Mycenae mentioned above needs correction.

35 See Styrenius, Submycenaean Studies figs. 58, 61.

36 AM lxxviii. 6 ff. pl. 4 nos. 3, 4. One is from burial XIIIa, which Verdelis dates to the transition from Submycenaean to Protogeometric, and the other from burial XIIIb, which he puts rather earlier.

37 BSA xlix. 259 pl. 43d.

38 BSA li. 129f. fig. 1.

39 Asine 303 fig. 208.5, 6; 313 fig. 216.4.

40 AM lxxviii. 8 fig. 4.

41 Deshayes, Les Fouilles de la Deiras, pl. 87.6; see pp. 90 ff.

42 Ker. i. 84 pls. 27, 28.

43 AM xxxv. 29. See Blinkenberg, Fibules 61 d-f.

44 See GZX4 pls. 39, 41.

45 ADelt xvii. 2 pl. 146e.

46 Hesperia xxxix, pl. 6.

47 Iakovides, Perati ü. 276 fig. 122.

48 See LMTS 58.

49 BSA 1. 243 fig. 3, tomb G 603.

50 AE 1969 pl. 24a.

51 AAA i. 293.

52 Iakovides, , Perati ii. 293 n. 5.Google Scholar

53 Op. cit. 293 fig. 127.

54 Ker. i. 85 fig. 4.

55 GDA 190.

56 Andronikos, , Vergina i. 238 f.Google Scholar

57 Op. cit. 239 f.

58 GDA 296–9.

59 Müller-Karpe, , JdI lxxvii. 86Google Scholar fig. 4.2.

60 ADelt v. 117 fig. 32.3.

61 ADelt xvii. 2 pl. 146e; ÖJh xlvi, Beiblatt 49 ff. and 47 fig. 25a.

62 Hesperia xxxix. 15 pl. 6 no. 14.

63 Cf. AM lxxviii 29 fig. 11 pls. 10.3–4; 11.7–8; 13.1–2.

64 CVA Mainz i. 12 ff. fig. 1.

65 PAE 1890, 35 f.; AE 1891, 23 ff. I wish to express my warm gratitude to Mrs. James Craig, whose thorough research into these early excavations has been of great assistance, and from whose advice I have much benefited.

66 AE 1891, 27 f.

67 AE 1887 pl. 13 no. 19 (not no. 21, as stated in AE 1891, 27 n. 1).

68 AE 1891 pl. 3.1.

69 ADelt xxiv, 1 pl. 50.

70 xxv. 88. 90.

71 BSA xxv. 36 pl. 6 a-c, fig. 9 a-b; see also fig. 4.

72 Ergon for 1971, 136 fig. 165. I wish to express my warm gratitude to Professor Mylonas for sending me further details of this burial, and permitting me to mention, and briefly describe, the amphoriskos found in it.

73 Op. cit. 131.

74 Ancient Mycenae 17.

75 Mention may also perhaps be made of the Geometric building found by Verdelis to the east of the entrance to the House of the Oil Merchant: see PAE 1963, 110 f. and 112 fig. 2.