The ‘Treasury of Atreus’ belongs to the third group of tholoi at Mycenae, as categorised by A. J. B. Wace, dating to ca. 1300 BC. A. J. B. Wace and his team made preliminary, exploratory tests in 1920 and 1921 to establish the date of the tomb. A full investigation of the edifice, and an excavation of the ‘bothros’ (waste pit) that bisected the dromos, was carried out in 1939.