ABSTRACT
In the Mycenaean Age of Greece our earliest records of the disposal of the dead, dating from the Middle Helladic period (roughly the first part of the second millennium sc) show two related patterns, a simple shallow pit, just sufficient for a human body on its side, and the most elaborate cist-grave lined with stone slabs. Normally a single vase was interred with the body. The famous Grave Circles of Mycenae are in fact an elaboration of the cist-grave. Here the burials were in shafts with a pebble floor, and sometimes space enough for several interments, the shafts set within a circle. The great tholos tombs or beehive tombs go back into the Middle Helladic period, though at Mycenae itself they are somewhat later. One other fact we know about the attitude to death at this period is that there was a mourning ritual.
