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The Western Necropolis

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Berbati’s Mycenaean Cemetary

Berbati’s chamber tomb cemetary

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Mycenaean chamber tombs

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The Tombs of the Necropolis

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The Finds of the Necropolis

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THE WESTERN NECROPOLIS

Berbati’s Chamber Tomb Cemetary

On the lower slopes of the Phytesoumia (greek. Φυτεσούμια) ridge, which leads at a gentle gradient from the Berbati Valley up to the saddle above Mycenae, and oriented towards the western banks of the once perennial river of Asterion, lies the Western Necropolis, a total of twelve Mycenaean Chamber tombs, eight of which were excavated in June-July 1936 by Gösta Säflund.

The Berbati Necropolis was located about one kilometer WNW from Mastos Hill. The chamber tombs were of simple character, cut into the soft marl bedrock. They were arranged in rows, at four different main levels, mostly at a right angle to the main contour of the hill. The tomb at the lowest level 1 was Tomb IX, followed by Tombs I-VII and XI at level 2 (of which only tomb I-III, VI and XI were excavated; tomb VI consisted only of an empty pit). At level 3, Tomb VIII and X were recorded and at level 4 Tomb XII.  

The roofs of all chamber tombs had fallen in. Consequently they were excavated from above. The door-packing of the dromos was found undisturbed in all tombs.

Unfortunately, Säflund was unable to raise the necessary means to complete his work before the outbreak of WWII. During the war, part of the material that was stored in Nafplio, including the skeletons and the specimens of organic remains from the tombs, was lost. The excavation report was finally published thirty years after the discovery.

Today, the Necropolis, has disappeared due to extensive cultivation.

Longitudinal Section of Chamber Tomb III of the Western Necropolis
from Säflund G., Excavations at Berbati 1936-1937

Plan of Chamber Tomb XI in the Western Necropolis
from Säflund G., Excavations at Berbati 1936-1937

Dromos and door-packing of Chamber Tomb XI in 1936
Säflund G., Excavations at Berbati 1936-1937

Excavation of Tomb XI with door-packing, vase and skeleton
Säflund G., Excavations at Berbati 1936-1937

Chamber Tomb II with vases and skeletons in 1936
from Säflund G., Excavations at Berbati 1936-1937

THE WESTERN NECROPOLIS

Mycenaean Chamber Tombs

Mycenaean chamber tombs appeared at the end of the Middle Helladic period and were built and used in every settlement across the mainland and the Aegean throughout the Late Bronze Age. They are one of the most characteristic archaeological traces of Mycenaean culture. In the Berbati Valley and the rest of the Argolid, chamber tombs were especially common during the prosperous times of LH IIIA2. 

As opposed to the tholos tombs, which are constructed from masonry, chamber tombs were customarily cut in groups into a hillside with the dromos (passageway) dug down at a slope to an underground chamber that was carved out of the bedrock. The dromos was dug as an open trench, narrow at ground level and widening down to the floor, as it leads to the narrow stomion, which is conceived as a doorway and in almost all cases was blocked with a dry-stone wall. The size, elaboration and monumentality of chamber tombs varied considerably, as did the grave goods found within them, suggesting that chamber tombs were used for the burials of people across a wide range of social strata.

Chamber tombs were used for multiple burials and reused over multiple generations. It is assumed that chamber tombs were family tombs, used generation after generation. The use-life of a tomb was in some ways as complex as the individuals who lay within. The re-excavation of tombs, the refilling of dromoi, the demolition and reconstruction of blocking walls in the stomia, the reshaping and even reconstruction of tomb floors and walls, the cleaning of tombs, the plastering of floors, and the leaving of offerings during the final “closing” of a tomb, all were part of a multitude of activities that left traces in the stratigraphy and architecture of these structures.

Almost all Mycenaean burials in chamber tombs were inhumations rather than cremations. Bodies were laid on the floor of the chamber, sometimes in pits dug into it or in a sidechamber.  It was common for previous burials to be rearranged, relocated and perhaps sometimes removed when a tomb was re-opened for a later interment. Small pyres in front of the stomion or in the chamber itself could have achieved purification, as could bringing in soil into the chamber to cover previous burials and prepare the floor for new interments. Although it is generally accepted that chamber tombs with multiple burials were re-opened several times, the stratigraphic documentation regarding mortuary activity (preparation, deposition, rites of burial, memorial rites) is still in need of investigation.

THE WESTERN NECROPOLIS

The Location of Mycenaean tombs

The Necropolis of Berbati was positioned and oriented towards the banks of the once perennial river of Asterion.

The location of Mycenaean cemeteries was to a certain degree determined by geographical and geological conditions, and in particular rivers, streams and sources of water, natural elements that might have been transformed in the minds of Mycenaean people into symbolic barriers between life and death. Water played a key-role in ancestral ceremonies and was of high symbolic value regarding the human passage from life into death and the afterlife fate of the departed.

Moreover, a source of water near the cemetery would have served the needs of Mycenaean funerary ritual and post-funerary cleansing.
The trend towards the creation of cemeteries outside habitation areas, as opposed to the common practice of intramural inhumation in pit and cist graves during MH times, was obvious in Early Mycenaean times. This pattern was attributed to changes in religious customs or as an outward expression and display of the growing complexity of the Mycenaean socio-political organisation.

It has also been suggested that the increase in population and population density during Mycenaen times was due to the fact that the location of cemeteries at a distance from the settlements (in the case of the Berbati Necropolis at a distance of approx. 1000m from the settlement at Mastos) prevented the spread of epidemics linked to contamination from the dead.

THE WESTERN NECROPOLIS

THE TOMBS

A total of eight chamber tombs were excavated in 1936-37. With one being an empty pit, seven tombs were published in 1965.

TOMBBurial
period
(LH)		Dromos
Length
(cm)		Dromos
Width
(cm)		Stomion
Length
(cm)		Stromion
Width
(cm)		Stomion
Height
(cm)		Chamber
Length
(cm)		Chamber
Width
(cm)		Chamber
Height
(cm)		Door
Width
(cm)		Door
Thickness
(cm)		Door
Height
(cm)
IEarly A2-B36610040-6080145300300165–80160
IIA1-late A2190906070–250350130–60100
IIIA2665976082152300350200–partially65
VIIILate A2510907080–70One layer
XA1-B850110370280roof
disappeared		––
XIA1-late A245070-90330335roof not
preserved
(max. 110)		704580
XIIA1-Late A2650105609028035060120
Table compiled from Säflund G., Excavations at Berbati 1936-1937, Stockholm studies in classical archaeology IV, 1965
THE WESTERN NECROPOLIS

The Pottery finds

The Western Necropolis has yielded abundant skeletal material, considerable quantities of pottery and some bronze objects. The pottery was dated between Mycenaean LH III A1 (aprox. 1420-1390) and B (1330-1200) with the majority of artifacts stemming from the late LHIII A2 period (1390-1330).

During WWII, part of the material that was stored in Nafplio was lost.

Beaked jug with octopus, Chamber Tomb III, 1350-1300 BC On display at the Archaeological Museum of Nafplio
Hydria with a decorative motif probably drawn from marine life, Chamber Tomb XII, 1350-1250 BC On display at the Archaeological Museum of Nafplio
Female figurine “kourotrofos type”, Chamber Tomb II, 1400-1350 BC
On display at the Archaeological Museum of Nafplio

SPECIAL

The “Little Women” of Berbati

During excavations of the Mastos Hill in the 1930’s and 1950’s, fragments of 139 well-produced female figurines were documented, that were most likely part of the production in the Potter’s workshop and might have been destined for distribution within the region and perhaps even beyond.

Another 7 complete figurines were found in two chamber tombs in the Western Necropolis of Berbati during excavations in the 1930’s. The parts of seven female figurines were assembled during the Berbati-Limnes survey and in 1999 several female figurines were found during a survey covering the whole of Mastos.

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THE WESTERN NECROPOLIS

The Geometric Grave in Tomb III

In the geometric period, a grave was dug at the back of Chamber Tomb III.

The burial contained the skeleton of a young female, lying on her back with her legs drawn up and her knees and head facing towards the north and the hands were laid together on the left side of her breast, over the heart.  She still had wide bronze rings on the fingers of both hands and bronze pins used to fasten her clothes onto her shoulders and bronze fibula that once fixed her hear-dress. Behind each ear was a bronze spiral, firmly oxidized to her skull, which was interpreted as earrings or ornaments to confine the hair.

A vase deposit containing 36 pots –most of which undamaged- was found.

Based on the finds, it was suggested that the burial probably took place before the end of the 9th century.

Pedestalled krater and plate, Chamber Tomb III, 825-600 BC
On display at the Archaeological Museum of Nafplio
Pyxis, Chamber Tomb III, 825-800 BC
On display at the Archaeological Museum of Nafplio

Bibliography

Gain more in-depth knowlege on the Western Necropolis by studying the sources


Säflund G., “The Mycenaean Chamber Tombs in the Western Necropolis”, Excavations at Berbati 1936-1937, Stockholm studies in classical archaeology IV, 1965

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