occurring in clusters; one rock-cut tomb (at Marina, Naoussa); three
chamber tombs without barrel vaults (at Aghios Athanasios near Thes-
saloniki, Vergina/Palatatsia (Heuzey’s Palatitsa), and Katerini), and 22
cist-type tombs, enlarged cist burials, or sarcophagi, from Makrygialos in
Pieria to the lower Strymon valley and Amphipolis.^21 The painted tombs
seem to correspond to the monuments on which the greatest amount of
resource had been expended. Some of these may well have belonged to
members of the king’s immediately family, but many of the incumbents
were from non-royal, élite families. Excavators have identified recogniz-
able clusters of tombs, which logically belong to dynastic groups.
The range and distribution of burials at Aigeai provide an insight into
the organization of mortuary practices in and around the city. More than
a thousand burials have been investigated to date, but the wealth and
complexity of this material has yet to be fully analysed. Although the
quantitative data is limited, the extraordinary quality of some of the
available information provides significant insights. These insights help to
delineate the distinctive character of northern mortuary traditions, but
also to define the economic dimensions of these rituals. The oldest
burials, on the east side of the city, partly overlap with classical ones,
although most of the archaic and classical tombs were located in the
north-western sector. Sixth-centurybcburials reflect clear connections,
in the style and choice of grave goods as well as the material selected,
with Early Iron Age traditions at Aigeai on the one hand, and later, more
ostentatious expressions of similar style on the other. The‘Temenids’
cluster’of burials on the south-western periphery of thefield of Early
Iron Age tumuli contained a number of cremation pyres close to burials
dating to the two middle quarters of the sixth centurybc. Male burials
frequently contained quantities of weapons, sometimes armour, and
drinking equipment. Female graves show an abundance of ornaments
and vessels. The‘lady of Aigeai’, perhaps a queen of the later sixth
centurybc, was buried with an elaborate set of sheet-gold ornaments,
some of which probably decorated her shroud, as well as gold jewellery
and a selection of metal and clay vessels.^22 From the third centurybc
onwards, the city’s fortification walls created a visible division between
the civic environment and those peripheral areas that continued to be
used for burial. Tumuli are dominant in the plain north of the city, the
(^21) Tsimbidou-Avloniti 2005, 172–84; on Macedonian built tombs, see also Miller 1993,
95ff.; Huguenot 2008, I, 37–51; II, 29–38.
(^22) ‘Lady of Aigeai’: Galanakis (ed.) 2011, 53, 55fig. 39, 237fig. 720, cat. nos. 328–414;
Early Iron Age burials at Aigeai: Andronikos 1969: Kottaridi 2009; Kottaridi 2011c, 141–2;
cf. Kottaridi 2011c, 93–126.
308 Continuity and commemoration