A tholos is a circular building with a vaulted or conical roof. Tholos tombs are sometimes called beehive tombs. They are a Late Bronze Age phenomenon. They seem to have first been used in Messenia (southwest Peloponnese) and about 1500 spread throughout Mycenaean territory. The tomb is tentatively dated to about 1500 BC.
This tomb is unusual for a couple of features. First the floor of the tomb was lined with sheets of gold. The second is that "archaeologists also found beads made of amber, carnelian and malachite, and a golden pendant depicting the head of the Egyptian goddess Hathor."
This import of an Egyptian goddess is somewhat surprising because of its early date, but it would not be so unusual. Two First Intermediate Period scarabs and an early Twelfth Dynasty scarab were found in a Middle Minoan IA context from Tholos B at Platanos in Crete (William A. Ward, "The Scarabs from Tholos B at Platanos"American Journal of Archaeology 85/1 (1981): 70-73).
The scarabs date about five hundred years earlier than the Pylos tholos tomb. We also have Aegean goods in Egypt at this time, both in the Middle Kingdom Tod Treasure and in Minoan style murals found in the Second Intermediate Period palace at Tell ed-Daba.
During both the Ptolemaic Period and the Roman Empire trade between Greece and Egypt was routine. We tend to forget that it was taking place much earlier than that. It is nice to have one more bit of documentation.
