Holztüren an mykenischen Kammergräbern (Wooden doors at Mycenaean chamber tombs)

loannis Moschos Athenische Mitteilungen 123 (2008) [2009]: 97-150.

Abstract

Following a burial in a Mycenaean chamber tomb, the stomion was sealed as a rule by means of a dry stone wall and more rarely by a stone dοοr. Generations of archaeologists have grown up with this assertion so that when excavating a chamber tomb we are certain in advance what awaits us at the doorway. Every time the dry stone wall or stone door is exposed, the conviction finds further substantiation. But can we be sure of this, or is there perhaps something we are overlooking? In the following article a new proposal is put forward: when an excavation reaches the dry stone wall or the stomion of a tomb, we must ask ourselves whether originally a wooden door stood in front of it. Characteristic examples of the existence of wooden doors in Mycenaean tombs are considered and, among other things, the various support mechanisms of wooden doors are discussed. The presence of wooden doors is linked on the one hand to Mycenaean eschatological concepts and on the other to the good state of preservation of the dry stone walls.