Mycenaean necropolis at Eghion

[Mark]

This caught my eye ... translation from Italian courtesy of Google, with some nudges from me. Aeghion is mentioned in the catalogue of ships (I assume this is Mycenaean Aeghion but someone feel free to correct me):

http://www.sotterraneidiroma.it/notizie-sdr/item/scoperta-in-grecia-necropoli-micenea-di-3500-anni-fa?category_id=20

Three Mycenaean tombs, dating from the fifteenth and eleventh centuries BC, with elaborate grave goods including pottery and precious ornamental, and the remains of a village, probably founded at the end of the third millennium BC, have been unearthed at Eghion in northwest Greece by archaeologists from the University of Udine. The discovery - according to an article on the new issue of the magazine Archeologia Viva - took place at the protohistoric site of Trapeza, in the region of Achaia, in the Peloponnese. The first investigations into the "chamber tombs" (i.e. dug into a slope and consist of an access corridor and burial chamber), brought to light the entrance to the tombs, unviolated beneath massive walled boulders and compact gravel coatings. The discovery of niches carved on the walls of the access corridors has revealed the tradition of giving a fitting home to the remains of the oldest tombs during the renovation and reuse of the tombs. In the long corridors of the tombs and in the areas in front of the tombs, archaeologists have found traces of iron weapons and vessels, evidence of repeated activity of worship in honour of the ancestors that were carried out starting from the final closing of the graves until the Archaic and Classical periods (the sixth and fourth centuries BC.), when the site, part of the Achaean city of Rhypes, had particular importance, as evidenced by the presence of an impressive temple.

[Patrick Waterson]

In the long corridors of the tombs and in the areas in front of the tombs, archaeologists have found traces of iron weapons and vessels, evidence of repeated activity of worship in honour of the ancestors that were carried out starting from the final closing of the graves until the Archaic and Classical periods (the sixth and fourth centuries BC.), when the site, part of the Achaean city of Rhypes, had particular importance, as evidenced by the presence of an impressive temple.

A pity they did not see fit to comment on the types of vessel: this could have been  illuminating.

One gets the impression that the ancestors were 'honoured' with iron weapons from the start, as no bronze weapons are mentioned.

Interesting.