GR PELOPONNESE ACHAIA PATRAS PETROTO THOLOS

Morning views to Patras from its southern outskirts. - Then in 2009 I accidentally came across a Mycenaean tholos tomb and only in 2021 did I identify it with the Petroto tholos. It was discovered in 1998 during road constructions that partially damaged the tomb on its western side before the rescue excavation was started by M. Petropoulos. The tholos lies on the western side of Mygdalia hill on the top of which a Mycenaean settlement is being excavated.

The thalamos is a circular chamber approximately 4.30 m in diameter, second in size in Achaea only after Tholos A at Pharai. It was built of roughly-cut, rectangular stones of local limestone, placed in irregular rows. I could not find any dromos which is said to run parallel to the slope. As usual with tholos tombs in Achaia there is no stomion. The roof collapswd already in Mycenaean times. The contents of the thalamos was found quite disturbed with skeletal remains and grave goods of provincial character shattered and scattered all around. From initial and subsequent interments there were eight burial levels identified with remains of 64 individuals. This makes the tholos one of the most extreme examples of complex reuse. The first burials occured here in LH IIB-IIIA, 1440-1400 BC, and were continued until LH IIIB-C, 1255-1120 BC, as attested by radiocarbon dating. - Although the Mycenaean cemetery of Achaia Clauss is quite near the area around the Petroto tholos was also turned into a larger chamber tomb cemetery. The two burials on either side of the tholos may belong to this cemetery.

More and more Mycenaean remains are brought to light in Achaia. Most of them date from the Late Mycenaean period when the main centres in the Argolid, in Messinia and Lakonia were already extinct. This supports Pausanias' indication that Achaia was a region of retreat for the Mycenaeans.