Abstract
THE discovery at Athens of a chamber-tomb of Mycenean age, which presumably had served for a royal burial, corroborates tradition, but at the same time necessitates a new orientation in assessing the importance of the settlement of Attica in early pre-classical times. The chamber was brought to light in the course of the present—the ninth—season of excavation on the Acropolis by the American School of Classical Studies. In a preliminary account of the discovery (Illustrated London News, July 22), Prof. T. L. Shear of Princeton University, field-director of the excavation, states that the tomb is situated in shallow accumulations of deposit on the northern slope of the Acropolis. It consists of a rectangular chamber, filled with splintered rock and approached by a dromos, or passage, some 45 ft. in length, but which originally may have been longer, as the outer end is cut by the Roman wall. The earth-filling of this passage contained a number of Mycenean potsherds. Both passage and burial chamber had been cut from the rock; and the entrance to the chamber from the passage is through a rock-cut doorway. This doorway was closed by carefully packed stones, which clearly had not been disturbed since they were placed in position.
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Mycenean Athens. Nature 144, 188 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/144188a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/144188a0