The monumental tomb no. 3 at the ancient city of Amantia

Abstract

During the archeological expedition of the year 2016 in Amantia, several works were carried out, bringing new elements and complete data regarding the construction and the arcitechture of the monumental tomb no. 3. The monumental tomb is located on the central part of the northeast necropolis, where the concentration of the funeral buildings is higher (Pl.I,1-7). Close to the monumental tomb no.3 there are also located the registered tombs no. 2,4,5 (Pl.II,1-4). Tomb’s Architecture The tomb has a rectangular plan with the outside dimensions of 4.40 m x 3.25 m. Its orientation is on the longitudinal axis of northeast- southwest
with the entrance facing northeast. It consists of two elements: - the burial chamber and the corridor (Pl.III,1-4). The corridor has deepened in the ancient terrain, in a longitudinal axis with the burial chamber. A part of it is built at a later stage. The built part is similar to a pseudocorridor with the dimensions of 0.70 m x 0.75 m x 1.80 m (Pl.IV,1-3). The pseudocorridor is externally closed with a sandstone rectangular shape slab. Its coverage is not preserved, but surely it has been covered by with a single stone slab.
The corridor sends to the burial chamber, which is built entirely from stone conglomerates blocks of different sizes. The burial chamber has a rectangular shape with internal dimensions of 2.16 m x 1.84 m. The maximal hight of the chambe that is 2.06 m, is held on the dividing wall of the two areas (Pl.IV,4). The walls o the chamber has the width of a block, and are built with regular horizontal alignment withought binding materials. The alignments have different hights and does not have splicing compitability between each other. On the other hand, the blocks on the alignments have the same hight and different lengths. They are built on site with formed edges, that preserve traces of chisel work on the internal side. The walls of the chamber are constructivly conected with each other. The coverage of the chamber is done by cylindrical vault, more precisely with segmental vault, that starts with a 1.55 m hights from the longitudinal walls and closes with a 2.06 m hight from the floor level (Pl.V,1). The floor of the chamber consist of a pressed layer of sand clay of cruciblecompound. The major part of the floor was found damaged, and only of the south angle of the chamber it was partly saved by a bench with a width of 0.67 m (Pl.V,2-3). The doorway of the chamber, which is created on the dividing wall of the two areas, has a rectangular shape with dimensions of 1.50 m x 0.60 m (Pl.V,1). Initially, the entrance was closed by a one-channel stone door with an axel system. Later, the door is replaced with a sand stone slab which closes the doorway from the outside. The burial chamber was dressed with plaster, which is partially preserved on the vertical side of the room. The plaster on the northwest side preserves painting signs containing a red paint. Dressed with plaster Mare also the extrados of the vault blocks, which are preserved in situ over the long northeastern wall (Pl.V,4).