BURIALS TRANSFERRED TO SHAFT GRAVES

seems to have been one of a series of such palatial jars, placed originally
within the vault, and, probably, like their clay prototypes, filled with oil.

Four pieces of 'a large vase of red stone with a heavy moulded rim',
also found in this tomb dur-
ing the repairs of 1913, are
supposed by Mr. Wace to
have formed part of a pithos
similar to those described.1

General Conclusion ;
Burials transferred from
Bee-hive Tombs to Shaft
Graves in L.M. I b.

Nothing could be more
natural than that, when, ex
liypothcsi, the mortal remains
and precious funereal relics of
the rulers of Mycenae were
transferred to a safer resting-
place, these stately jars, re-
callino- those of the Royal
Magazines of Knossos, should
have been left in their places
and have been made use of,
perhaps, in memorial cere-
monies still held within these

]t Fig. 66. 'Medallion' Pithos of Dark Green

Steatite from ' Clytemnestra ' Tomb. Restored by
On the other hand, in Monsieur E. Gillieron, fils. Height, 3 ft.

the remains, small that they

are, of the gold plates and roundels for attachment to wooden or, perhaps,
leather backgrounds, we may well recognize remnants lost at the time of
removal that had once formed part of the adornment of the actual coffins or
wrappings of the dead.

The latest of these, as we have seen, date from an advanced stage of
the L.M. I b Period, or^:. 1450 is. c, a date which approaches that of the latest
relics found in the Shaft Graves. The ' medallion' pithoi from the ' Clytem-

a modern type, suiting his furniture to his
building, and carefully selecting vases to har-
monize with the period of his facade ?

' B. S. A., xxv, p. 366. This vessel was
6 cm. thick, and the rim 7-5 cm. wide.