TRYPES - 2000

Excavation was completed in the dromos of tomb 8, where sherds of a large amphora with an ekphora scene were previously found. The dromos had already been partly destroyed by the farm track which runs next to the cemetery. Two empty niches were found, one in each wall.

In chamber tomb 12, a niche in the west wall of the dromos contained bones gathered from earlier burials. In the orthogonal sunken chamber were at least eight burials in the northwest, two burials side by side in the north and a further pair, one over the other, along the east wall. Grave goods comprise two large four-handled jars, eight stirrup jars, a straight-sided alabastron, a spouted cup, a two-handled amphora, two lekythoi, a small hydria, a small jug, seven whorls, four beads, fragments of bronze, sherds and two black steatite sealstones. In the western part of the chamber, a pit in the floor with a slab cover contained one burial without goods. One further pit in the southwest part of the tomb, beneath the burials, contained a contracted skeleton but no grave goods. Both pits were oriented north-south. The tomb was used from LHIIIA−C.

Chamber tomb 13, in the far north of the cemetery, is the largest investigated and the richest, at least in terms of pottery (Fig. 59). Ninety two (mostly large) vessels date to LHIIIB and (mostly) LHIIIC. The upper part of the sunken, oval chamber was largely destroyed, but although the closing wall was displaced, the tomb had not been looted. The exact number of burials cannot be established because the skeletons had disintegrated. Finds comprise 27 (mostly large) four-handled jars, 39 stirrup jars (many large), five straight-sided alabastra, two pyxides, a spouted cup, five lekythoi, five small jugs, a bird-shaped askos, a composite vase, a collar-necked jar, an askoid vessel, a ring vase, three amphoriskoi, a bronze razor, a terracotta figurine, glass paste beads and five spindle-whorls.

Four pits were dug into the chamber floor, two in front of the entrance and two in the northern part of the chamber. Pit 1, missing its cover slab, contained one inhumation with additional bone and four crania above it. One vessel and one whorl likely belong to the first burial. Pit 2, in front of the chamber entrance, was an ossuary with a cover slab preserved. Amidst the bone inside it were three spindle-whorls, sherds, a sard bead and a steatite bead with zig-zag line decoration. Pit 3, in the northwestern part of the chamber, contained cranial fragments and two spindlewhorls. Pit 4, with the cover slabs preserved, contained one disintegrated burial.
Finds from the dromos are of particular interest. Apart from sherds in the fill, seven figurines, including a kourotrophos and a bovine, were found close to the northeast angle, together with the round base on which they sat. Two pit graves lay alongside the side walls of the dromos. Pit grave 9 lay close to the surface beside the west wall. Lacking its cover slabs, it contained only a few bones and a fragment of kylix base and stem. Pit grave 10, opposite grave 9 along the east wall, was very similar; it contained two burials, one over the other. Further chamber and pit tombs were located: excavation continues.