The impressive burial monument, discovered during the monitoring of soil-moving work, is built on a height with an unobstructed view of the two exceptional natural harbours of western Mykonos, Korfos and Ornos, as well as the islands to the west and north (Delos, Rheneia, Tenos and Syros).
It consists of a large circular chamber with a diameter of 5.80 m and a 14 m long passage-way (dromos). On the floor of the funeral chamber, on the axis of the entrance, there is a stone-built low bench (Π-shaped) for the laying out of the dead). At the northern and western parts of the bench, rectangular ossuaries were built to store the bones of older burials.
The vault of the tomb seems to have collapsed relatively quickly, within the limits of the Mycenaean period, However, based on the surviving height of the walls (3.70m) the highest point of the vault can be calculated at around 6.00 m.
The finds of the tomb, sealed by the collapse of the roof, date from the LH IIIA2 to LH IIIB1 (late 15th-14th centuries BC). In addition to the mostly decorated vessels (goblets, alabastra, stirrup-jars, kraters), valuable prestige objects were also collected – such as fine rock-crystal seal stones, gold beads of necklaces and ones of glass-paste in the form of papyrus flowers, left-handed spirals, as well as steatite ‘buttons’. Similar gold beads, common in both the Minoan and Mycenaean repertoires, have been found in Thebes, Athens, Volos, Crete and elsewhere. The papyrus flower motif in particular is borrowed from the Middle East and Egypt. The vessels and jewellery of the tomb, most imported, indicate the sustained commercial contacts the Cycladic Mycenaean establishments had with the major centres of mainland Greece.
Just a few human bones and no bronze objects were found inside the tomb. This, according to the excavator P. I. Hatzidakis, suggests that during the use of the tomb, the structural problems it was facing may have been noticed and the dead, together with some of the offerings, moved to another place.
The tomb is the largest and best-preserved sample of burial architecture of the Mycenaean period from the Cyclades. It has yielded the most numerous and richest grave-goods of all the corresponding burial monuments of that period identified in Tenos (the tholos of St. Thekla) and Naxos (the tholos of Komiaki).
Manolis Psarros-Aggeliki Koumna: Archaeologists EFA Cyclades
Source of Photographs 3-5:
α) Χατζηδάκης, Π.Ι.Χ. (1994) «Ένας μυκηναϊκός θολωτός τάφος στη Μύκονο», Εφημ. Μυκονιάτικη, τεύχος 65, 1-15.
β) ΥΠΟΥΡΓΕΙΟ ΠΟΛΙΤΙΣΜΟΥ & ΑΘΛΗΤΙΣΜΟΥ ΓΕΝΙΚΗ ΔΙΕΥΘΥΝΣΗ ΑΡΧΑΙΟΤΗΤΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΠΟΛΙΤΙΣΤΙΚΗΣ ΚΛΗΡΟΝΟΜΙΑΣ ΕΦΟΡΕΙΑ ΑΡΧΑΙΟΤΗΤΩΝ ΚΥΚΛΑΔΩΝ-ΠΟΛΙΤΙΣΤΙΚΟ ΙΔΡΥΜΑ ΟΜΙΛΟΥ ΠΕΙΡΑΙΩΣ (2019) Από τον κόσμο του Ομήρου. Τήνος και Κυκλάδες στη Μυκηναϊκή εποχή-Κατάλογος Έκθεσης Τήνος Μουσείο Μαρμαροτεχνίας 12/7-14/10/2019. Αθήνα: ΥΠΟΥΡΓΕΙΟ ΠΟΛΙΤΙΣΜΟΥ & ΑΘΛΗΤΙΣΜΟΥ- ΕΦΟΡΕΙΑ ΑΡΧΑΙΟΤΗΤΩΝ ΚΥΚΛΑΔΩΝ.
Bibliography: Hatzidakis, P.I.H. (1994) Ένας μυκηναϊκός θολωτός τάφος στη Μύκονο, Εφημ. Μυκονιάτικη, issue 65, 1-15. MINISTRY OF CULTURE & SPORTS GENERAL DIRECTORATE OF ANTIQUITIES AND CULTURAL HERITAGE EPHORATE OF ANTIQUITIES OF THE CYCLADES-PIRAEUS GROUP CULTURAL FOUNDATION (2019) Από τον κόσμο του Ομήρου. Τήνος και Κυκλάδες στη Μυκηναϊκή εποχή-Κατάλογος Έκθεσης: Τήνος Μουσείο Μαρμαροτεχνίας 12/7-14/10/2019. Athens: MINISTRY OF CULTURE & SPORTS – CEPHORATE OF ANTIQUITIES OF THE CYCLADES. Pelon, O. (1976) Tholoi, Tumuli et Cercles Funéraires. Bibliothèque des Ecoles Françaises d’Athènes et de Rome fasc.229. Paris: DIFFUSION DE BOCCARD.
