GREECE PELOPONNESE ARGOLIS KAZARMA THOLOS

Also in Kazarma are the remains of a collapsed Mycenaean tholos tomb, first used in the LH IIA period (i.e. ca. 1500-1450 BC). The walls of the partially preserved thalamos are made of irregular stones, indicating its construction in an early period (for more information on tholos tombs, click here).

The tomb consisted as usual of a long corridor (dromos), an entrance (stomion), and a stone-built corbelled chamber (thalamos) with a diameter of 7.20 m, which was relatively small. Part of the tomb was already destroyed prior to excavation. However, three pits cut into the floor of the chamber were found intact; they contained two male and one female burial respectively with cosmopolitan offerings. Vases placed around the edge of the pits and scattered animal bones along with traces of a pyre attest to burial rituals.

Around 1050 - 1000 BC the tomb was again used and became the focus of an ancestor cult, as demonstrated by the ritual sacrifice of animals. Two burials inside the chamber are probably dated to this final use of the tomb.