A Mycenaean tholos tomb dated to the Late Bronze Age was uncovered near Amfissa, in central Greece, during the works conducted under the irrigation project for the region’s protected and historic olive grove valley.

The tomb is a typical tholos with a long corridor of built sides 9 metres long, a recessed entrance and a burial chamber with a maximum internal diameter of 5.90 metres. The upper register of the tomb has collapsed but the tomb walls have survived to 3 metres in height.

The tomp appears mostly unlooted and the objects found on the floor indicate that it was used from the 14th to 12th century BC.

Findings include forty four inscribed pots, two broken bronze statues, gold rings, bronze buttons, pieces of semiprecious stones, two short bronze swords, statuettes of female or animal forms, and a large number of seal stones with animal, plant and geometric motifs.

Amfissa’s tholos is a unique monument which is the first found in the prefecture of Fokida and one of the few found in mainland Greece.