T.1 MLA 1173, An Extra Urban Tomb of the Late Bronze Age Site near Hala Sultan Tekke

In the autumn of 1983, T.1-MLA 1173 was found accidentally during the construction of the asphalt road near the mosque of Hala Sultan Tekke. Although the tomb had suffered looting and destruction, the recovered contents indicate that it once was very rich. The assemblage includes ceramics (an estimated minimum of 344 vessels), gold jewellery (among which two pendants representing the Egyptian goddess Tawaret), terracotta figurines, a cylinder seal, alabaster vessels, traces of ivory and faience artefacts, ostrich egg, and a possible weight. The assemblage spans LC IIA through the beginning of LC IIIA. The tomb is located close to two other tombs lying opposite the mosque, on the outskirts of the Late Bronze Age settlement at Hala Sultan Tekke-Vyzakia.
Our research aims to contribute to the knowledge of the funerary topography of the site. The article presents a catalogue and discussion of the tomb assemblage, together with four appendices which provide comments respectively on the residue found in a Late Helladic flask (Baeten et al), the cylinder seal (E. Gubel and J.S. Smith), the painted mark on a Late Helladic krater base (N. Hirschfeld), and the fragmentary human skeletal remains (K.O. Lorentz).