Tholos tomb near Pylos, © 1996, Tom Elliott
A Mycenaean tholos tomb is: a circular, subterranean burial
chamber ... roofed by a corbelled vault and approached by an ... entrance passage that narrows abruptly
at the doorway actually opening into the tomb chamber.
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The small tholos tomb depicted in this image is located near the Mycenean palace at Pylos (the so-called Palace of Nestor). The photo was taken in 1996 by Tom Elliott while serving as teaching assistant on the UNC Summer Program in Greece.
For additional information on tholos tombs, consult:
- Mycenaean Tholos Tombs and Early Mycenaean Settlements, part of the excellent Prehistoric Archaeology of the Aegean Project at Dartmouth College (whence the definition quoted above)
- The same project provides an excellent collection of images of tholos tombs and Mycenean settlements, including those from Marathon, Mycenae, Orchomenos, Vrana, Thorikos, Tiryns, Vapheio and Vodhokoilia
