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Corbelled Vaulting in the Late Minoan Tholos Tombs of Crete

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

W. G. Cavanagh  and
R. R. Laxton
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Extract

This article is a sequel to that published in BSA 76. Our aim is to compare the structure of the Late Minoan tholos tomb with that of the five Mycenaean tombs already considered. It was possible to examine three tombs in Crete which are well preserved, namely, the tombs at Achladia and Stylos complete to the top of the vault, and the tomb at Apodoulou which has been partly restored. In the event Apodoulou proved unsuitable for analysis because of the amount of restoration. In date these Cretan vaulted tombs start later than the Mycenaean series and are generally placed in LM IIIA–B. That is to say, these tombs are later than the tholoi at Dimini and Marathon and approximately contemporary with the Tomb of the Genii and the Treasury of Atreus at Mycenae. It seems most probable that the technique of constructing tholos tombs was introduced to Crete from the mainland; it was argued in the earlier paper that the circular Mesara type tombs were not vaulted in the manner of the Mycenaean tholos tombs.

Type
Research Article
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 77 , November 1982 , pp. 65 - 77
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1982

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References

1 The authors wish to thank the British Academy for a research grant towards their expenses; also the director and staff of the British School at Athens who contacted and obtained the permission of the Greek Archaeological Service. Professor Platon, Dr. Davaras, and Dr. Tzedakis kindly gave permission for the work and were most helpful in the field. Thanks are also due to Mr. N. Papadakis of the Museum at Siteia, to Mr. Gavrilakis of the village of Samonas, and to the many villagers of Crete who were so helpful and gracious to us in the course of our work. Mr. D. G. Rhead of the Numerical and Statistics Section, Cripps Computing Centre, University of Nottingham, helped us with curve fitting. We wish to record our gratitude to all who helped.

2 BSA 76 (1981).

3 A. Delt. 18 (1963) Chron. 315; Pelon, O., Tholoi, tumuli et cercles funéraires (1976) 265Google Scholar; Kanta, A., The Late Minoan III Period (1980) 207Google Scholar

4 A similar relieving space is found in the tholos tomb at Menidi: H. G. Lolling and others, Das Kuppelgrab bei Menidi (1880).

5 A. Delt. 25 (1970) ii 478. Dr. Tzedakis kindly checked the records and confirms that the tomb was restored from one course above the upper lintel and that the upper lintel was put back.

6 Platon, , PAE 1952, 643–6Google Scholar; Pelon, op. cit. 260–1; Kanta, op. cit. 178.

7 K. Chron. 17 (1963) 392; A. Delt. 17 (1961–62) 293; AAA 4 (1972) 42; Pelon, op. cit. 266; Kanta, op. cit. 235.

8 C. Chatfield, Statistics for Technology (1970).

9 Neter, J. and Wasserman, W., Applied Linear Statistical Models (1974) 123 and Ch. 4.Google Scholar NAG Library routine EO4DF, Numerical Algorithms Group, 1981.

10 Op. cit. ch. 3.

11 The two Mycenaean tombs closest in date to the Minoan ones are also closer in their values of d: the Treasury of Atreus d = 0·69, the Tomb of the Genii d = 0·71. However little significance can be read into this fact.