GREECE PELOPONNESE MESSINIA KORYPHASIO

To avoid confusion: ancient Koryphasion was on a headland near Voidokoilia Bay and is described there. Modern Koryphasio lies about 6 km north-east of this bay. Formerly known as Osmanaga (the lagoon north of Navarino Bay is still called Osmanaga Lagoon), the town was renamed.

In 1926, Dr. K. Kourouniotis excavated a tholos tomb south of modern Koryphasio. The tomb, sometimes called "Koryphasio-Osmanaga tomb", was constructed in level ground, and a slight rise in the level of the earth above was obviously a remnant of the tumulus originally heaped over it. The chamber of the tholos had a diameter of ca. 6 m, and presumably about the same height. It was built of small flattish unworked stones, while the dromos, which provided entrance from the northeast, was unwalled.

Using radio-carbon dating, the tholos of Koryphasio was dated to the Middle Helladic III period around 1600 BC and was therefore and because of its quite poor construction long believed to be the earliest Messenian tholos, or even the oldest tholos tomb on mainland Greece. However, a recent study of Minoan-style pottery that came from Tholos IV in Ano Englianos dates that tholos to Middle Minoan IIIA at around 1725 BC and caused the history to be rewritten. Murphy, Stocker, Davis and Schepartz (2020): "We do not see any reason to assume, as is commonly done, that tholos tomb architecture in Messenia necessarily progressed from less to more sophisticated." It actually appears that Tholos IV, the oldest tholos, was also one of the most developed. It now seems that the much simpler Koryphasio tholos was built in imitation of the more substantial Tholos IV.

The tholos tomb of Koryphasio is well signposted from the road, from where you have to find your way on foot through citrus fruit plantations. The tomb is somewhat overgrown, but still the chamber walls are clearly visible.