The cemetery of a nearby settlement was organized here during the early Bronze Age (Early Helladic period). The settlement has not been located so far.

The local bedrock can be easily dug and is ideal for opening tombs. The tombs are chamber-like and consist of a vertical access pit or ?dromos? and the chamber, usually of small dimensions, square, circular or elliptical in plan. Similar tombs are common in neighboring Elis, as well as in other sites around Greece. The small entrance to the tomb was opened in one of the access pit?s sides and was closed with an upright slab or with a wall. In some cases the ?dromos? was leading to two chambers, opened on two of its sides (facing each other or adjacent). In some of the tombs with square plan a long bench had been carved on the side facing the entrance.

Smaller tombs, the circular ones, contained one body, lying on its side with legs to the chest. These burials had few or no offerings, usually clay vases. Larger, square, tombs were used for multiple burials, after pushing the older skeletal remains aside.

Vases were hand made, made of coarse clay, with thick walls and uneven firing, sometimes with red slip and burnished. Closed shapes, such as the jug, prevailed.

During the Late Bronze Age, (Late Helladic or Mycenaean period), the same area was used once more for the same purpose. An extensive Mycenaean chamber tomb cemetery was organized here, which was in use for several centuries, from the end of the Late Helladic IIIA1 to the Late Helladic IIIC Late period (1375-1050/1030 B.C.).

Mycenaean tombs were chambers too, but different from the Early Helladic ones. They are larger, with an inclining dromos (ramp) and a chamber of circular, elliptical or horseshoe plan . The entrance was walled, had a horizontal or pointed lintel and led into the chamber through a low passage. In several tombs signs of the digging tools can still be seen, usually on the chamber walls.

The dead were buried on their side or on their backs, with legs pulled to the chest and were usually put directly on the chamber?s floor or inside slab covered pits. The larger and older tombs were family ones and some were used for a number of generations. In this case, space for the new burials was made either by putting older skeletons inside niches, opened in the dromos? walls or by simply pushing them aside, within the chamber. However, ?individual?, very small tombs exist too. Grave offerings were usually characteristic clay vases, such as stirrup jars, small jugs or cylindrical alabastra.

During the construction of the Mycenaean chambers many of the Early Helladic tombs were partly or completely destroyed. The percentage of Early Helladic tombs, which have in one or another way affected in Mycenaean times, has been estimated to 86% of the total. Unfortunately, modern tomb looters? activity has been responsible for the destruction of many Mycenaean tombs too. A Mycenaean chamber tomb had accidentally been found and excavated here in 1961. However, rescue excavation ? mainly in the southeastern part of the cemetery - did not begin until 1994-95, after large scale looting had taken place. More than 50 tombs, in fact the best preserved, were savagely robbed by tomb looters, who are still active today.