Agora Deposit: J 1:10
Title:   Mycenaean Chamber Tomb
Supervisor:   Brian Martens
Category:   Burial
Description:   It was partially excavated during the 2012 and 2013 seasons. The tomb, located at the center of Room III in the NE area of section ΒΖ, was found under fill surrounding perpendicular mid-to late 6th c. B.C. walls (Walls 17 and 18). N-S Wall 17 and E-W Wall 18 were found during the 2012 excavation season and were excavated below their lowest courses. The foundations, part of a now-absent structure through the area, were inserted deeply as the result of an anomaly in the soil: the collapsed tomb, cut into the hillside's soft bedrock. Leveling fill over Walls 17 and 18 indicates disuse within the first half of the 5th c. B.C.
Disarticulated human remains (ten individuals including adults, children, an infant, and fetuses) were found in the cutting east of Wall 17 and at least one fetal rib was found in the cutting opposite at the west.
The insertion of Walls 17 and 18 apparently disturbed the burials, attested by mid 6th c. B.C. pottery churned amongst the tomb contents. Large chunks of soft, blue-green bedrock were found throughout the fill, most probably from the collapsed bedrock walls or ceiling of the tomb.
In 2017, we were granted permission to remove the two fragmentary foundations overlying the chamber of the tomb: Walls 17 and 18. The tomb contents were found spread over the tomb of the floor, but especially concentrated at the back east and south walls. A strip of fill at the north side of the cutting, just below the scarp of Wall L remained unexcavated at the end of the season (J/17,18-1/10,11; 51.290-51.376 masl.)
2018:
We removed a final strip of fill in the chamber below the scarp under Wall K (J/17,19-1/10,11). We recovered additional skeletal material (AA 376, nos. 96–109) as well as a piriform stirrup jar that brings the final phase of the tomb into LH IIIC early. Scarping revealed the blocking wall of the chamber. A more complete analysis of these findings appears in the 2018 end-of-season report.
Contents:   10 multiple commingled fragmentary skeletons (AA 376).
For the animal bones see Basement-Center (animal bones), Drawer 37, 38 and 40.
Bibliography:   Hesperia 89 (2020), pp. 596-609, fig. 4.
Chronology:   LHIIIA
Date:   20 July 2012-2 August 2012
17-29 July 2013 (partial)
22 June-4 August 2017
15 June-18 July 2018
Section:   ΒΖ
Grid:   J/17,19-1/10,12
References:   Publication: Hesperia 89 (2020)
Report: 2018 Excavations
Report: 2017 Excavations
Report Pages (4)
Images (56)
Objects (24)