Pit graves dating back to prehistoric times have been found isolated or grouped under small man-made tumuli in Tsaousitsa, Kozani, Aiane, Thasos, and elsewhere.
In the cemeteries outside the walls of Macedonian cities, the tile-roofed grave was the most usual type found throughout antiquity. Middle and lower social classes also built cist graves whose interior was decorated with depictions, line drawings or garlands (Thessalonike, Beroia, Derveni, Sedes, Amphipolis, Pella).
All these types of grave were in use to late antiquity, while from the mid-4th to the mid-2nd century BC a different type of tomb, the 'Macedonian', was in use (Vergina, Aiane, Thessalonike, Lefkadia). Each of these tombs belonged to one family and was the last resting place of a restricted number of members of the ruling class (the royal family, and the king's Companions and Friends).
In the constantly extended burial grounds of the populous Roman cities during the imperial years the tomb with a brick arch was chiefly used. Finally, in the 2nd-3rd century AD wealthy families also used marble sarcophagi with relief depictions.
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