The "Treasury of Atreus" tholos in 2004

Beehive tombs, also known as Tholos tombs (plural tholoi), are a style of Mycenaean chamber tomb from the Bronze Age. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Treasure of Atreus in 2004 The Treasure of Atreus or Treasury of Atreus is an impressive tholos tomb at Mycenae, Greece (on the Panagitsa Hill) constructed around 1250 BCE. The lintel stone above the doorway weighs 120 tons. ... Mycenae (ancient Greek: , IPA, , in modern Greek: Μυκήνες, , U.S. English: ; see also List of traditional Greek place names), is an archaeological site in Greece, located about 90km south-west of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese. ... A chamber tomb is a tomb for burial used in many different cultures. ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze. ...

Beehive tombs developed from Mycenaean shaft tombs, which first appear around 1600 BC. After about 1500 BC, beehive tombs became more widespread. They were built as corbelled arches, layers of stone and dirt placed closer together as the arch tapers toward the top of the tomb. This style is probably an influence from Minoan tombs. Each tomb usually contains more than one person, in various places in the tomb, and with various grave goods. After a burial, the beehive tomb was covered with dirt, leaving a small mound with most of the tomb underground. They were connected to the surface by a long tunnel, leading to a door consisting of a set of monoliths. Because there are hundreds of such tombs, with more than one associated with each Mycenaean settlement, they were probably not burial places for the aristocracy alone, although the larger tombs, ranging from about 10 meters to about 15 meters in diameter, were likely used for royal burials. The larger tombs presumably contained aristocratic grave goods, but the tombs were pillaged in ancient times. Etruscan tombs were also beehive style with decorated interior. (Redirected from 1600 BC) Centuries: 18th century BC - 17th century BC - 16th century BC Decades: 1650s BC 1640s BC 1630s BC 1620s BC 1610s BC - 1600s BC - 1590s BC 1580s BC 1570s BC 1560s BC 1550s BC Events and trends Egypt: End of Fourteenth Dynasty The creation of one of... (Redirected from 1500 BC) Centuries: 17th century BC - 16th century BC - 15th century BC Decades: 1550s BC 1540s BC 1530s BC 1520s BC 1510s BC - 1500s BC - 1490s BC 1480s BC 1470s BC 1460s BC 1450s BC Events and Trends Stonehenge built in Wiltshire, England The element Mercury has been... Fresco of a Minoan fisherman from Akrotiri The Minoans were a pre-Hellenic Bronze Age civilization in Crete in the Aegean Sea, flourishing from approximately 2600 to 1450 BC when their culture was superseded by the Mycenaean culture, which drew upon the Minoans. ... Map showing the extent of the Etruscan civilization and the twelve Etruscan League cities. ...

The earliest stone-built tombs which can be called 'beehive', are in Oman, built of stacked flat stones which occur in nearby geological formations. They date to around 3,500 years BC, to a period when the Arabian peninsular was subject to much more rainfall than now, and supported a flourishing civilisation in what is now desert, to the west of the mountain range along the Gulf of Oman. No burial remains have ever been retrieved from these 'tombs', though there seems no other pupose for their building.