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The Tholos Tomb

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The Berbati Tholos Tomb

Description of the Berbati Tholos

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The Palace style pottery

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The Cult of the Berbati Tholos

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Excavations at the Tholos

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THE THOLOS TOMB

The Berbati Tholos

The Tholos Tomb of Berbati is located c. 550 m northwest of the Mastos Hill and is constructed into a steep poros-stone hillside. It was discovered and excavated in 1935. Although the upper part of the tholos collapsed as early as Geometric times and its interiors were robbed of much of its probable contents in antiquity, it has yielded some highly interesting pieces of Palace Style pottery as well as other ceramics that belonged to a single burial dated to the LH II/IIIA1 period.
The presence of the tholos tomb suggests that Berbati was a small but independent chiefdom, prior to its annexation by Mycenae. Unfortunately, most of the finds and the pottery were lost during WWII and only some photographs are left. Pottery of Late Geometric and Late Roman date found inside the tomb, suggest that the tholos was reused as a cult place in later periods.

Tholos tombs are large, beehive-shaped graves constructed from masonry into slopes of hills, as opposed to chamber tombs that were cut into the bedrock. The structure is characterized by its vaulted chamber created by corbelling, the superposition of successively smaller rings of stones. These layers were then trimmed from inside the tomb, creating a smooth dome.

The Tholos tomb appeared in Greece in the Late Bronze Age and was used for the burial of the ruling monarchy and important individuals. The bodies were placed in the center of the chamber, the “tholos”, along with precious grave goods and after the funerary ceremonies, the mouth of the tomb, the “stomion”, was closed with a wall of stones, the blocking wall, which separated the interior of the tomb from the exterior entryway, the “dromos”. The tombs usually contained more than one burial.

The Berbati tholos is built into a steep hillside, which is made of poros. The dromos (entrance way), is 8 m long and measures 2.35 m in width at the outer end and widens towards the stomion, where it measures 2.50 m wide. Compared to other tholos tombs, the dromos of the Berbati tomb is very short due to the sharp slope of the hill. The walls are quite vertical and lined with masonry composed of rather large flat slabs of limestone while the interstices are filled with smaller wedge-shaped stones. A certain rough coursing can be observed. The outer end of the dromos is closed by a cross-wall of rough undressed blocks of irregular shape. There is no inclination in the floor-level of the dromos.

Longitudinal section
Longitudinal section of the Berbati Tholos Tomb

The stomion (doorway) is over 3 m tall and almost 4 m deep with a width between 1.40 m (upper part) and 1.68 m (bottom). The outer face of the stomion is constructed of well-cut poros blocks, producing a monumental façade. In the joints between the blocks traces of stucco were found. The walls of the doorway are constructed of fairly large irregular stones, partially displaced in the upper part. One of the missing lintel slabs was found down the hillside near the outer end of the dromos. The size of the tomb indicates that there must have been a so called “relieving triangle” above the lintel.

When found, the door-way was still sealed by a rubble-stone wall and the original filling in the stomion was found intact. The wall consisted of rough, undressed smaller stones and reached a height between the hamps of 2.25 m, the upper thickness c. 1m, the lower 1.80 m. The rest of the stomion was filled with earth. A wall of dressed poros blocks probably existed between the stomion and the tholos, as suggested by a large number of blocks found in the tholos itself, indicating that the wall had fallen in when the tholos collapsed.

The tholos itself has an inner diameter of 8 m and is quite circular with only very small irregularities. The relation between the tholos diameter and the length of the dromos is exactly 1:1, which is extremely unusual. Although the slope of the hill had to be considered when a tholos was built, the choice of exactly the same measurements in cupola diameter and dromos length may have been deliberate.

The collapsed walls of the tholos stand to a height of 3.50 m near the stomion (doorway) and 4.50 m at the highest point on the opposite side. The original height of the tholos has been estimated as roughly equal to the diameter. The masonry of the wall of the tholos is very rough without regular coursing, as opposed to the excellent quality of the wall in the dromos and dromos doorway. It has been suggested that this indicates that the tomb was constructed while the person who was buried there was still alive. Moreover, during construction the stones were not laid simultaneously in rings all the way round the tholos, but in smaller portions, sometimes as high as eight rows of stones.

The floor was covered with a very thin layer of plaster. The grave shaft is located at the side opposite the entrance. The shaft has been damaged by grave robbers and was probably originally more regular in shape (2.60 m x 1m x 1.24 m). Only small fragments of the skull, thorax and femur were left scattered along with arrow heads, a rim fragment of a silver vase and many fragments of Palace Style jars. The pottery finds show that the main bulk of vases belonged to a single burial of the LHIIIA1 period and that the tomb must have closed in this period.

At the outer end of the dromos, a heap of ashes and charchoal was found over a small pit filled with animal bones, whereas a similar heap was found just in front of the tholos’ stomion. These findings suggest the performance of feasting in honour of the ancestors as part of funeral or memorial rites.

The outer face of the stomion is constructed of well-cut poros blocks, producing a monumental façade

The masonry of the wall of the tholos is very rough without regular coursing, as opposed to the excellent quality of the wall in the dromos and stomion

The collapsed walls of the tholos stand to a height of 3.50 m near the stomion and 4.50 m at the highest point on the opposite side

View of the walls of the Stomion that are constructed of fairly large irregular stones

View of the walls of the dromos which are lined with masonry composed of rather large flat slabs of limestone while the interstices are filled with smaller wedge-shaped stones

The doorway with the blocking wall in the stomion in 1935
Erik Stahl Berbati Archive, the Swedish Institute at Athens

THE THOLOS TOMB

The Palace style pottery

The fragments of Palace Style jars that were found in the shaft turned out to belong to five jars of high quality. The jars were restored after the excavation, but fell in pieces during WW2. They were later restored by the Nafplion Museum with missing original pieces restored in plaster. Today, the jars are stored in the Leonardo Rooms of the Nafplion Museum and are currently not on display.

The sherds of these vases were found at different places in the tomb: in the filling of the dromos and of the stomion that were found intact, in the debris of the chamber and in the shaft. It has been suggested that this circumstance should be interpreted as being the result of the burial customs. It appears that at the funeral, some vases were deliberately broken. 

The vases were dated on stylistic terms to the LHIIA period, but the possibility of a longer life for this specific type o pottery has been considered by other scholars. It is unlikely that these vases were survivals of heirlooms, but it is possible that they continued to be fabricated in a traditional style at a later date and are thus more or less contemporary with the main bulk of pottery from the tomb, which belongs to the LH IIIA1 period. 

The five palace style jars of the Berbati Tholos Tomb after their second restoration

The large “Papyrus” jar

The largest vase is a three-handled pithoid jar nearly 1 m high (96 cm with max. diameter of body 69 cm) and very elegant both in shape and decoration. The conical piriform shape is elongated with almost straight sides and a high neck.
The jar is of greenish buff fabric, the paint reddish to black. The jar was restored after the excavation, but today the base is missing.

The lower body is completely painted with two pairs of lines reserved. Above it is a wavy border with three parallel reserved lines following the wavy line. This border indicates the landscape from which the plants rise.

The main motif consists of a group of five Papyrus plants repeated three times. The middle plant is the highest, situated midway between the handles. The others are arranged in pairs, are smaller and bend outwards in order to fill the whole surface. Below each handle there are three parallel vertical wavy lines representing stalks from which ivy leaves grow in all directions. Space-filling ornaments consist of larger Rosettes and smaller ones, “Sea Anemone” and simple crosses, in addition to groups of wavy lines of varying dimensions. Between the main motifs at the bottom are inserted double or triple stalks with Sacral Ivy.

The “Cuttlefish” Jar

The second largest three-handled pithoid jar (height of 75 cm and a max. diameter of body 52.5 cm), was restored after the excavation but lies now in pieces again in the Leonardo store-room of the Nafplion Museum with parts of its lower body and base missing. The vase is of reddish clay with a thin yellowish slip, the paint is dark brown to red.

The base and the lower body are completely painted with three lines. Three Cuttlefish are placed in the zones between the handles and fill the rest of the vase with their spreading tentacles. The space between the tentacles is filled with irregular Rock-Work, representing the bottom of the sea. At several places between the tentacles small circles, half circles and dots are painted, probably representing bubbles arising from the cuttlefish swimming under the water. These bubbles, which are rather uncommon, indicate a close observation of nature.

The “Running Spirals” jar

The three-handled pithoid jar has a height of 75 cm and a max. diameter o body 46 cm and is of conical piriform shape with rather straight sides. Three ribbed vertical handles were set high on the shoulder and below each, on the middle of the body, were located smaller rounded ones. Restoration work was done after excavation, and later redone by the Nafplion Museum with the original base missing, which was restored in plaster. Of the handles only one is partly preserved.  The jar is of yellowish brown gritty fabric covered with a fine yellow red slip. The colour of the paint varies from red lustrous to black, due to uneven oxidation.

The base and neck of the vase are completely covered in paint. The lower body is decorated with an Arcade Pattern, the rest of the body is covered with four rows of large Running Spirals, all retorted except for the uppermost row on the shoulder where the handles interrupt the spiral pattern. In the center of each spiral there is a fill ornament, a “Sacral Ivy” with triangular filling at the base. The space between the spirals is decorated with filled Lozenges. At the top of the shoulder below the neck runs a Foliate Band. The handles are painted with vertical chevrons.

Vases of the same shape and similar decoration have been found in Pylos and Dendra.

The smaller “Papyrus” jar

This three-handled pithoid jar has a height of 57 cm and a max. diameter of body 40.3 cm. The jar has a conical piriform shape with a comparatively high neck. Three large vertical ribbed handles are located on the shoulder and below each of them on the body two smaller grooved ones. The fabric is reddish and the paint dark brown. Today, large parts of the body and rim are missing and have been restored in plaster.

The base and lower body as well as the neck and handles are covered with paint. The vessel is divided into three zones through the handles, each zone is decorated with a Papyrus plant motif. The flower of the central plant is placed between the handles and the flanking plants are smaller and lean outwards. The surface is covered with fill ornaments such as Rosettes and “Sea Anemones” as well as isolated Tricurved Archs. On each side of the middle stalk a flower rises on a double stalk that probably represents a “Sacral Ivy”.

The “Argaunaut” jar

The three-handled jar is of conical piriform shape with a rather narrow neck that widens slightly upwards with a broad horizontal lip. The vessel has a height of 55.5 cm and a max diameter of 44 cm. The three vertical handles with a midrib are set o the shoulder of the vessel. The fabric of the main vessel is reddish yellow, the lip of greenish buff, while the paint light to dark brown.

The base, neck and handles are covered with paint. The main decoration consist of a big stylized Argonaut in each handle zone and  is placed on the shoulder zone and upper part of the body. The coils are transformed into real spirals, a curtailed Argonaut (bodyless). The fill ornaments consist of isolated circles with dots around, so called “Sea Anemone” and segments of concentric circles, representing a marine environment (trefoil rock work). Below each handle there is a spiral. The decorated zone is enclosed by a broad band, framed with thin lines, placed on the upper body slightly above the middle.

THE THOLOS TOMB

The Cult of the Berbati Tholos

One of the most im­por­tant sites of the Late Geo­met­ric and Ar­chaic pe­riod in the Berbati Valley was the cult at the LH II tho­los. Findings sug­gest that the area of the tomb was reused as a re­li­gious site from Late Geo­met­ric II (c. 735–700 BC) to the end of the 6th cen­tury BC, possiby a little longer. While the ex­act na­ture of the cult is un­known it is usu­ally in­ter­preted as a hero or tomb cult. Sim­i­lar cults in old tho­los tombs are well known from other ar­eas of the Ar­go­lis as well as the rest of the Myce­naean world.

The Berbati Valley had remained virtually uninhabited since the end of the Late Bronze Age. Early or middle Geometric graves (900-760 BC) were found on the western slopes of the Kephalari Rema and on the Phytesoumia spur, but it was only in the Late Geometric period (760-700 BC) that the resettlement of the valley started properly. Late Geometric and Archaic activity concentrated to the north-west part of the valley and the settlement spread from the west to the east, suggesting that the Late Geometric settlers entered the valley from the west, coming over the pass from Mycenae.

In the 8th century BC, Argos was the main settlement in the Argolid and controlled the whole Argive plain. Since a growth of population for the whole of the Argolid has been postulated, it is possible that the population of Mycenae increased as well creating a need for territorial expansion, which must have been limited towards the plain, due to the control exerted by Argos. So Mycenae had to turn to the hinterland instead.

The founding of the Argive Heraion around 700 BC has been interpreted as a political demarcation by Argos and a marker of the eastern border. Mycenae felt the provocation and had to demonstrate its local and political independence against Argos by starting its own cults at the tholoi and the chamber tombs and most prominently by founding a new shrine, the “Agamemnoneion”, dedicated to Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae who commanded the Greeks during the Trojan War.  The cult at the Berbati tholos could be explained along the same lines.

The earliest activity at the Berbati tholos is the end of Late Geometric II (735-700 BC), whereas the earliest settlement material from the valley is Late Geometric I (760-735 BC), a small albeit clear difference in time, suggesting that the offerings at the tholos tomb did not start simultaneously with the occupation of the valley for settlement.
One explanation that has been put forward is that the tholos had not yet caved in or was simply not discovered until the valley had been resettled for a generation or two. The Berbati inhabitants in order to strengthen their ties to the land and show that they belonged there, began to mark their territory by placing offerings in the tomb, just as the people of Mycenae did.  

Since the dromos of the tholos tomb was never opened, we can assume that the Late Geometric visitors gained access to the tomb through the roof of the chamber.

Votive Offerings from the Cult place at the Berbati Tholos
On display at the Archaeological Museum of Nafplion

Argive mounted warrior figurine, 7th-6th century BC
On display at the Archaeological Museum of Nafplion

Argive krateriskos with female protomes, ca. 600-575 BC
On display at the Archaeological Museum of Nafplion

Argive seated female figurine, 6th century BC
On display at the Archaeological Museum of Nafplion

The excavation of the dromos of the tholos tomb at Berbati in 1935
Erik Stahl Berbati Archive, the Swedish Institute at Athens
THE THOLOS TOMB

The Excavations at the Berbati Tholos

The Tholos tomb was not discovered during the first reconnaissance trip made by Axel W. Persson, Gösta Säflund and Erik J. Holmberg in the summer of 1934, but after the promising results of the survey, Persson had declared in an interview in a Swedish newspaper that he would find a tholos tomb in the valley.

Approximately one week after field work started in July 1935, Persson found a big conglomerate stone slab, normally used at Mycenae for the lintel slabs in tholos tombs, at some distance northwest of Mastos hill. Close to this big slab, smaller worked limestone blocks were found. Persson immediately realized that these were the remains of a collapsed tholos tomb and the first trial trench confirmed his theory.

The excavation started in the same year after the acquisition of the land where the tholos was situated, but at his untimely death in 1950, Persson had not published his investigation. He probably had intended to extend the general report of the tholos and its finds to a broader study and survey of Palace Style pottery in general. Persson believed he could identify specific mainland traits and distinguish a mainland Palace Style from the Knossian one, but he never finished his work.

His unfinished manuscript was located in the 1970s and Åke Åkerström , who had assumed responsibility for the research in Berbati at the time, asked Barbro Santillo Frizell to re-study the material.

Bibliography

Gain more in-depth knowlege on the Berbati Tholos Tomb by studying the sources

Ekroth G., “The Late Geometric and Archaic Period”, The Berbati-Limnes Archaeological Survey 1988-1990, Stockholm 1996

Forsell R., “The Roman Period”, The Berbati-Limnes Archaeological Survey 1988-1990, Stockholm 1996

Frizell B.S., “The Tholos Tomb at Berbati”, Opuscula Atheniensia, XV:3, 1984

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