THE VAULTED ROYAL TOMBS OF MAGOULA
From Galatas, taking the road to Troizina in about 3 kilometers and on the right, there are The vaulted Royal Tombs of Magoulas from the Mycenaean era, a significant sample of the Mycenaean civilization.
A small mesoelladic Acropolis has been discovered on the hill (800 m. lenght) of Megalis Magoulas. The Royal Tombs are located at the western end of the hill.
Three vaulted tombs have been discovered, the first one is from the 16th century BC, the second, the largest, belongs to the Early Mycenaean period of the 15th century BC, and the third one is of the 13th century BC.
The oldest of the Tombs (16th b.C.) forms on the inside a circle with a diameter of 5 meters and has a megalithic entrance, without the characteristic entrance of the usual vaulted Mycenaean tombs. The second is very large (11 meters) and the third is the smallest (3,80 meters).
The most majestic of the three tombs is the second one and is estimated to have the height of a three-storey building. Its diameter reaches the 11 meters and is covered by a 60 meter in diameter tumulus and is dated back to the 15th b.C.
Although the tombs found plundered, the excavation revealed in it figurines, gold jewelry, exquisite art and an amphora from Canaan, meanng there were trade relations between the East and Crete.
These findings were evidence that the dead were prominennt members of society before the Trojan war, but at the era that Theseus must have lived.