Beehive tomb

A beehive tomb, also known as a tholos tomb (plural tholoi; from Greek: θολωτός τάφος, romanized: tholotós táphos, θολωτοί τάφοι tholotoi táphoi, "domed tomb(s)"), is a burial structure characterized by its false dome created by corbelling, the superposition of successively smaller rings of mudbricks or, more often, stones. The resulting structure resembles a beehive, hence the traditional English name.

Tholoi were used for burial in several cultures in the Mediterranean and West Asia, but in some cases they were used for different purposes such as homes (Cyprus), rituals (Bulgaria, Syria), and even fortification (Spain, Sardinia). Although Max Mallowan used the same name for the circular houses belonging to the Neolithic culture of Tell Halaf (Iraq, Syria and Turkey), there is no relationship between them.

In Greece, the vaulted tholoi are a monumental Late Bronze Age development. Their origin is a matter of considerable debate; they were either inspired by the tholoi of Crete, which were first used in the Early Minoan period, or they were a natural development of tumulus burials dating to the Middle Bronze Age. 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.

A few early examples of tholoi have been found in Messenia in the SW Peloponnese Greece (for example at Voidhokoilia), and recently near Troezen in the NE Peloponnese. 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.

After about 1500 BCE, beehive tombs became more widespread and are found in every part of the Mycenaean heartland. In contrast, however, to the early examples these are almost always cut into the slope of a hillside so that only the upper third of the vaulted chamber was above ground level. This masonry was then concealed with a relatively small mound of earth.

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.

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.