Volimidia

Volimidia (Greek: Βολιμίδια) is an archaeological site in Messenia, in the Peloponnese region of Greece. During the Mycenaean period, from the end of the Middle Bronze Age (c. 1700 – c. 1600 BCE), it was used as a cemetery, and was the site of a settlement from the Late Helladic I period (c. 1600 – c. 1510 BCE) until the end of Late Helladic III in around 1180 BCE. The Bronze Age cemetery consists of 35 tombs, mostly identified as chamber tombs. It may have been the site known in the Mycenaean period as Sphagianes, which was a religious centre in the territory of the Palace of Nestor at Pylos.

The chamber tombs at Volimidia are morphologically unusual, with rounded chambers and domed roofs rather than the more usual square and sloped constructions. It has been suggested that this may have been in imitation of the more monumental tholos tombs, which are unknown at Volimidia but began to be constructed elsewhere in ancient Messenia at around the same time. Burials were generally made in an extended position, with few grave goods except pottery vessels, though flint and obsidian arrowheads were also commonly deposited. From the Late Helladic II period (c. 1510 – c. 1400 BCE), practices of secondary burial became common, by which older, skeletonised bodies were disarticulated and their skulls grouped together.

In the Iron Age, the tombs at Volimidia became the focus of ritual activities known as "tomb cult", by which people re-opened the tombs to leave offerings, perform sacrifices, or inter additional burials. This practice intensified in the Hellenistic period (323–30 BCE), following Messenia's independence from Sparta in 369, and continued into the following Roman period. The area also appears to have been inhabited during this time, with a kiln and a bath-house constructed at the site.

Almost all of the tombs at Volimidia were excavated between 1952 and 1965 by Spyridon Marinatos, working for the Greek Archaeological Service in collaboration with the excavations of Carl Blegen at Pylos. Marinatos also made small-scale excavations in the Mycenaean settlement. Further tombs were excavated by Theodora Karagiorga-Stathakopoulou in 1972, by the Archaeological Service in 1990, and by George S. Korres in 1991.