Talk:Cyclopean Tomb

Various

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• Figures have appropriate licences and captions

Minor comments/suggestions

• [optional] the building process → construction (less words)
  • I'm happy with this as it stands. UndercoverClassicist ^T·C 05:34, 13 May 2026 (UTC)
• I am not comfortable with the phrasing a total of nine tholoi were constructed at Mycenae as it sounds absolute. Are we certain that there are only nine? Should it not be nine that we know/found so far?
  • I'm happy with this phrasing. Mycenae is one of the most intensively studied places in world archaeology, and tholos tombs are not inconspicuous. I haven't seen any good source hedge the number like that, and we shouldn't introduce doubt where the scholarship doesn't think it exists. UndercoverClassicist ^T·C 05:34, 13 May 2026 (UTC)
    • There is a difference between saying "we know of nine tombs" vs "nine tombs constructed". The latter adds an additional certainty that is inconsistent with the phrasing from the source as well.
    • Mason source of the nine tholos tombs found at Mycenae and Mycenae boasts nine tholos tombs.
    • I understand that this might be a minor/cosmetic issue so I will trust your judgement here.
• Alan Wace is wikilinked twice in the Description section, also no need to have the full name twice
  • Changed. UndercoverClassicist ^T·C 05:34, 13 May 2026 (UTC)
• You have excluded in the infobox for "Excavation dates" & "Archaeologists" of the case of Alan Wace. Is there a reason?
  • As noted in the article, he didn't excavate the tomb: he went back through material already excavated. UndercoverClassicist ^T·C 05:34, 13 May 2026 (UTC) I had a look back at Wace's own publication, rather than Antonaccio's summary of it, and he does seem to have done a little bit of digging (he reports finding sherds in the dromos and stomion, which surely weren't just sitting on the ground), so I've added him on that basis. UndercoverClassicist ^T·C 05:53, 13 May 2026 (UTC)
• "Argolis" at the infobox should not be wikilinked per WP:SEAOFBLUE
  • Delinked. UndercoverClassicist ^T·C 05:34, 13 May 2026 (UTC)
• I find it a bit confusing. In the Description section you mention considerable things about the investigations that IMO should be mentioned in the follow up section. Perhaps moving some info about individual investigations from the Description section to Archaeological investigations so that the sections are more thematically consistent? I mean the Description of the Tomb should be the summary of conclusions from all the investigations and thus independent, no?
  • I'm not sure what your last sentence means here, but the logic is that the "description" describes the tomb, and "Archaeological investigations" describes what archaeologists have done to it and found there. Sometimes we need to add a little context, particularly to Wace and his judgement about the tomb's age, but I don't see anything that could be moved without breaking that system. UndercoverClassicist ^T·C 05:34, 13 May 2026 (UTC)
    • If Wace's observations are not challenged then these should not be presented as an opinion in the Description section. Perhaps this is again a minor/stylistic issue. I will again trust your judgement here.

Sources

Spot check: 5, 10, 17, 19, 23

• Fix reference by Antonaccio. The year should be 1995, not 1994 (both the hardcopy version that I have access and in Google Books have 1995 as the year of copyright, see also Princeton University press page). Also please provide a quote for verification, as for the page range provided I cannot confirm citation 23 (page 31 is a map). What I find is the following: (at page 32) Sheer volume of finds alone cannot indicate cult, though Wace's caution is perhaps too absolute. I think it is important to state that Wace did not believe there were not any evidence of a cult, however, the particular statement does not necessarily translate into a full endorsement by Antonaccio. I suspect some rewriting is in order.
  • Fixed the date. It's on page 30: part of the preface to this whole set of evidence is Nearly every area used by the Mycenaeans for burials has produced evidence interpreted at some time as that of hero cult ... [including] all nine tholoi. I've added a "possible" to hedge it a little, and extended the range to 32. UndercoverClassicist ^T·C 05:34, 13 May 2026 (UTC)
    • Thank you for the clarification, somehow I missed reading the particular part. The changes helped.

Final comments

Thank you for making the changes, I left a couple comments for posterity. Congratulations to UndercoverClassicist for bringing the ancient past to the GA family! Well done! A.Cython(talk) 01:11, 14 May 2026 (UTC)