Corbelled Vaulting in the Late Minoan Tholos Tombs of Crete

Abstract

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.