Mycenae Grave Circle A, Shaft Grave III: Tomb of the High Priestess?

The Annual of the British School at Athens, 2010

The Annual of the British School at Athens, 2009

Building work at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens in 2003 led to the rediscovery of the two male skeletons from Shaft Grave VI at Mycenae, found by Panayiotis Stamatakis in 1877 as he completed the excavation of Grave Circle A begun by Schliemann. The find provided a triple opportunity. First came a re-assessment of Stamatakis's important and often pioneering role both at Mycenae and in the archaeology of the later Bronze Age, which has generally been overlooked both because of Schliemann's very vocal antagonism and because of his own overwork and early death. Second, a detailed study of the skulls along with the post-cranial bones allowed a reconstruction of the faces of the two men to set beside the earlier reconstructions of the faces of seven individuals from Grave Circle B. This showed that although the two men were very likely related to each other, one could not demonstrate kinship with any of the seven faces from Circle B on the basis of their facial appe...

Mycenaeans up to date. The archaeology of north-eastern Peloponnese - current concepts and new directions, 2015

While excavating Grave Circle B in 1952 and 1953, Ioannis Papadimitriou identified and investigated an Early Mycenaean chamber tomb, which remained unpublished to this day. The tomb’s importance lies both in its finds and its location directly below the acropolis next to Grave Circle B, outside any organized cemetery contemporary with the tomb. The tomb preserved the skeletal remains of a young man, whose grave gifts included pottery, bronze vases, intricate weapons, and numerous pieces of jewellery. This paper examines the relationships of these finds with others known from earlier excavations in the same region, and discusses local weapons manufacturing workshops and their distinctive artistic traits. The second part of the paper examines the relationship between this chamber tomb and the monumental tombs of the citadel’s south slope, and the process of distinguishing the cemeteries’ location from that of inhabitations at the time of the city’s dynamic expansion shortly before the dawn of the Palatial period.

Honouring the Dead in the Peloponnese Proceedings of the conference held in Sparta 23-35 April 2009. Edited by Helen Cavanagh, William Cavanagh and James Roy. CSPS Online Publication 2 prepared by Sam Farnham., 2011

In the summers of 1952 and 1953, during the excavation of Grave Circle B at Mycenae, Ioannis Papadimitriou located and excavated an early Mycenaean chamber tomb, that remained until now unpublished. Its position and finds preserve evidence for the honouring of the dead and ancestors in successive periods, each time with a different content. The extended presentation of the tomb’s architecture is followed by the evidence on the “hero-cult”, as the excavator interpreted the rich remains of the LG period, inside and over the chamber. There is also a discussion on the neighboring of important burial monuments (Grave Circle B, Clytemnestra Tholos tomb, Papadsimitriou’s chamber tomb) to the Hellenistic theatre of the city, where the misfortunes of the House of Atreus relived. Finally, tribute is paid to the excavator himself, the diaries of whom reveal a great archaeologist and an ordinary man. The tomb’s study is followed by an appendix presenting the animal skeletal remains found inside the chamber and on top of it, by the LG altar.

2015

This paper considers the entire sequence of funerary evidence from the site of Mycenae, from the prehistoric cemetery and early shaft graves to the end of the palatial period. Through a detailed examination of funerary practice, the aim is to understand the material and structural conditions within which innovations were introduced or traditions were maintained, and how people used those opportunities to act creatively in the funerary process, thereby remaking those conditions for the future. By considering the interactions of different groups we can understand the conditions under which changes were introduced, and explain some of the motivations of those involved. This paper will offer explanations for historical change from the perspectives of the complex interactions of those building and using tombs, rather than as a series of elite innovations.