Mycenaean chamber tomb

A Mycenaean chamber tomb is the type of chamber tomb that was built in Mycenaean Greece. Mycenaean chamber tombs originated in Messenia at the end of the Middle Helladic period (c. 1600 BCE),^[1] and were built and used throughout the Late Bronze Age across the Aegean area.

Mycenaean chamber tombs were cut into the bedrock (as opposed to the contemporary tholos tombs, which are constructed from masonry), usually on sloping terrain, and formed of a chamber (thalamos), joined to a rectangular passageway (dromos) by a threshold (stomion). The size, elaboration and monumentality of Mycenaean chamber tombs varies considerably, as do the grave goods found within them, suggesting that they were used for the burials of people across a wide range of social strata.^[2]

After the end of the Bronze Age, chamber tombs ceased to be constructed in most parts of the Greek world, though some continued in use for votive offerings and hero cult during the Early Iron Age.^[3]