Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1944, Page 84

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LE NORD
Mycenaean rock-tombs, which yielded rich finds of pottery,
weapons, and jewelry.
Dendnt0 and Berbati,ai two villages situated within the My-
cenaean cultural circle, have become world-famous because of
the remarkable findings made there. At Berbati, under the leader-
ship of A. W. Persson with G. Sáflund and Á. Ákerström as
his assistants, a Mycenaean tholos tomb and two chamber tombs
with extraordinarily beautiful pottery were examined. At Dendra
another Mycenaean tholos-tomb and eleven rock-tombs were
found. The tholos-tomb of Dendra did not only prove to be
untouched, but also to contain so remarkable treasures of gold
and silver that similar findings have not been made in Greece
since the days of Heinrich Schliemann. The weapons and gold
vessels, found in the tholos-tomb at Dendra, like the cut stones
are now considered the finest specimens of Mycenaean applied
art. In one of the rock-tombs was made a similar finding of gold
and silver vessels of extraordinarily great artistic value, as also
of a unique copper helmet.
It was perhaps of still greater importance that it was pos-
sible to reconstruct nearly to the minutest detail the procedure
of the burial of a prince. The rock-tombs at Dendra and Berbati
further illustrate another aspect of Mycenaean culture, viz. its
relation to Egyptian culture. Everything suggests that the origin
of the Mycenaean rock-tombs is to be sought in Egypt, this being
corroborated by both forms and contents of the tombs. Besides
the tombs also a potter’s workshop of great interest was examined
at Berbati. Here, amongst other things, proofs were found that
vases of the palace style were made on the continent, too. At
Dendra also remains of the acropolis of the Mycenaean city of
Midea were examined, although without any particularly im-
portant findings being made.
10 Persson, The Royal Tombs at Dendra near Midea, Lund 1931; —,
New Tombs at Dendra near Midea, Lund 1942; —, Kungagravarna
i Dendra, Stockholm 1928.
11 The definitive publication on the Berbati investigations has not yet
been finished. Preliminary reports, however, have been published by
Persson in the Arch. Anz. 1936, p. 138, and 1938, p. 552, and by
Á. Ákerström in the Nordisk Familjeboks Manadskrönika, Stock-
holm 1939, p. 669 and VI. intern. Kongr. f. Arch. Ber., Berlin 1940,
p. 296; Opuscula Arch., II, Lund 1941, p. 165.