MAROULAS - 2001

Maroulas, Mezaria. E. Papadopoulou (ΚΕ’ ΕΠΚΑ) reports the discovery of a Late Minoan III cemetery of chamber tombs and pot-burials.

Seven chamber tombs with rectilinear or elliptical chambers were uncovered on the Papadaki property. In two cases finds were made in the dromoi (three drinking cups on a clay surface in tomb 2; four cups and a stone construction covered in bones and fragments of larnax in tombs 4). Most tombs contained a single intact larnax on a stone plaque, but in one case (tomb 6) the only burial was on the floor of the chamber, and in another (tomb 5) there were two larnakes. The inhumations in the larnakes were strongly contracted. The larnax in tomb 1 and the two in tomb 5 were accompanied by jewellery - rings, bracelets, beads, and sealstones. One of the larnakes from tomb 5 also contained traces of cloth together with pins of bone and faience, while the other contained a piece of painted plaster with scenes including a human figure in profile. The larnax in tomb 4 contained a dagger-axe. Incense burners together with terracotta and occasionally stone vessels were placed under most larnakes (1, 3, 5, and 7): in one case the pots are described as near the larnax and in another they are said to be in the middle of the chamber. Tomb 3 had, in addition to the larnax, an in situ inhumation on the floor, and tombs 2 and 4 contained scatters of other bones at one side of the chamber. The pottery dates the graves to LM IIIA2-LM IIIB.

Another round chamber tomb excavated on the Giannoulaki property had been severely disturbed.