A Mycenaean chamber tomb is the type of chamber tomb that was built in Mycenaean Greece. Mycenaean chamber tombs originated in Messenia at the end of the Middle Helladic period (), and were built and used throughout the Late Bronze Age across the Aegean area. Mycenaean chamber tombs were cut into the bedrock (as opposed to the contemporary tholos tombs, which are constructed from masonry), usually on sloping terrain, and formed of a chamber (thalamos), joined to a rectangular passageway (dromos) by a threshold (stomion). The size, elaboration and monumentality of Mycenaean chamber tombs varies considerably, as do the grave goods found within them, suggesting that they were used for the burials of people across a wide range of social strata. After the end of the Bronze Age, chamber tombs ceased to be constructed in most parts of the Greek world, though some continued in use for votive offerings and hero cult during the Early Iron Age. Chronological development The earliest chamber tombs are found in the MH III period in Messenia, followed closely by LH I examples throughout central and southern Greece, particularly in the Argolid. They remain relatively uncommon, except at Mycenae, until LH III, when they were constructed widely across the Aegean region associated with Mycenaean culture. Chamber tombs continued to be constructed throughout the Mycenaean period, though regional differences are observed as to their popularity and likely social function. At Mycenae, they appear to have displaced all other forms of elite burial, except tholoi, and have been closely linked with the development and consolidation of the palatial state in LH III. It has been suggested that the chamber tombs at Mycenae represent lower-ranked members of the palatial elite, while tholoi were reserved for the most elite, perhaps the wanax and other high-ranking figures known from Linear B. In Boeotia, however, only one tholos tomb is known (the so-called Treasury of Minyas, dating to ), while chamber tombs seem to have been the predominant form of burial for all elite groups, including the monumental chamber tomb at Megalo Kastelli, which has been linked with the rulers of Thebes. In Achaia, chamber tombs seem to be associated with emergent local elites in the LH II period, but displace even simple grave types, such as pit and cist graves, by LH III. In this period in Achaia, there seems to have been little association, unlike in the Argolid, between