Beehive tomb
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A beehive tomb, also known as a tholos tomb (plural tholoi; from
Tholoi were used for burial in several cultures in the
Greece
In Greece, the vaulted tholoi are a monumental Late Bronze Age development. Their origin is a matter of considerable debate: were they inspired by the tholoi of Crete which were first used in the Early Minoan period[1] or were they a natural development of tumulus burials dating to the Middle Bronze Age.[2] In concept, they are similar to the much more numerous Mycenaean chamber tombs which seem to have emerged at about the same time. Both have chamber, doorway stomion and entrance passage dromos but tholoi are largely built while chamber tombs are rock-cut.[3]
A few early examples of tholoi have been found in Messenia in the SW Peloponnese Greece (for example at Voidhokoilia),[4] and recently near Troezen in the NE Peloponnese.[5] These tholoi are built on level ground and then enclosed by a mound of earth. A pair of tumuli at Marathon, Greece indicate how a built rectangular (but without a vault) central chamber was extended with an entrance passage.[6]
After about
The tombs usually contain more than one burial, in various places in the tomb either on the floor, in pits and cists or on stone-built or rock-cut benches, and with various grave goods. After a burial, the entrance to the tomb was filled in with soil, leaving a small mound with most of the tomb underground.
The chamber is always built in masonry, even in the earliest examples, as is the stomion or entrance-way. The dromos in early examples was usually just cut from the bedrock, as in the Panagia Tomb at Mycenae itself. In later examples such as the Treasury of Atreus and Tomb of Clytemnestra (both at Mycenae), all three parts were constructed of fine ashlar masonry.[7]
The chambers were built as corbelled vaults, with layers of stone placed closer together as the vault tapers toward the top of the tomb. These stone layers were trimmed from inside the tomb, creating a smooth dome.[8][9][10]
The entrances provided an opportunity for conspicuous demonstration of wealth. That of the Treasury of Atreus, for example, was decorated with columns of red and green “Lapis Lacedaimonius” brought from quarries over 100 km away.
The abundance of such tombs, often with more than one being associated with a settlement during one specific time period, may indicate that their use was not confined to the ruling
Levant and Cyprus
Circular structures were commonly built in the Near East, including the examples known as tholoi found in the
Southern Europe and Sardinia
In the
The Bronze Age fortifications known as motillas in La Mancha (Spain) also use the tholos building technique.
The imposing stone structures known as (Italy). Nuraghi are truncated conical towers of dry-laid stone, about 40 feet in diameter, sloping up to a circular roof some 50 feet above the ground. The vaulted ceiling is 20 to 35 feet above the floor. Although the remains of some 7,000 nuraghi have been found, up to 30,000 may have been built.
There are also recorded
Bulgaria
The beehive
Eastern Arabia
The earliest stone-built tombs which can be called "beehive" are in
-
Beehive tombs dating to the Hafit period (approximately 5000 years ago), near Jebel Hafeet in Al Ain, the U.A.E.
-
The Archaeological Sites of Bat, Al-Khutm and Al-Ayn in the Hajar Mountains of Oman
Somalia
NE of Qandala is a field of tombs of varying sizes.
See also
- Beehive house
- Mycenaean Greece
- Nuraghi
- Tholos of Delphi
- Minoan sites with tholos tombs: Armeni, Archanes-Phourni, Hagia Photia, Kamilari, Kavousi Vronda, Nea Roumata, Papoura, Phylaki, Stilos, Yerokambos
References
Citations
- ^ M. S. F. Hood, "Tholos Tombs of the Aegean," Antiquity 34(1960) 166–176.
- ^ K.A. and Diana Wardle, Cities of Legend, The Mycenaean World, London 2000, 27–28.[ISBN missing]
- ^ Alan J B Wace, “A Companion to Homer” (1962): 351
- ^ G. S. Korres, "Tymboi, tholoi, kai taphikoi kykloi tes Messenias," in Proceedings of the First International Conference of Peloponnesian Studies 2 (Athens 1976) 337–369.
- ^ E. Konsolaki-Yiannopoulou, “E Magoula ston Galata tes Troizenias: Ena neo ME-YE kentro ston Saroniko,” in E. Konsolaki-Yiannopoulou (ed.), Argosaronikos: Praktika 1ou Diethnous Synedriou Istorias kai Archaiologias tou Argosaronikou A (Athens 2003) 159–228.
- ^ S. Marinatos, "Further News from Marathon," Archaeologika Analekta Athenon 3 (1970): 155–63.
- ^ A.J.B. Wace, “Excavations at Mycenae: IX. The Tholos Tombs”, Annual of the British School at Athens 25, 1923, 283–402.
- ^ Adams, Schneider. Art Across Time (4th ed.). McGraw Hill. p. 123.
- ^ W. G. Cavanagh and R. R. Laxton, "The Structural Mechanics of the Mycenaean Tholos Tomb," Annual of the British School at Athens 76(1981)109–140.
- )
- ^ Adams, Schneider. Art Across Time (4th ed.). McGraw Hill. p. 126.
- ISBN 842491015X
- )
- ^ "Archaeological Sites of Bat, Al-Khutm and Al-Ayn". UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Retrieved 2020-02-29.
Sources
- Sturgis, Russell (1906). A History of Architecture, Vol. I, pp. 123–25. New York: Baker & Taylor.
External links
Media related to Tholos at Wikimedia Commons