The pithos burial, the deposition of the dead in pithoi or large storage vases, is one of the most typical burial customs of the Middle Helladic period. Pithos burials are discovered in the ruins of settlements as well as in cemeteries and tumuli. Pithoi were used mainly for the burial of infants and children and less frequently for adults. Pithos burials are rarely accompanied by grave goods and only in a few cases do these graves contain simple grave offerings. Apart from the deposition of the dead in pithoi there are also cases in which the body of the dead was simply covered by pithos fragments while sometimes fragments of pithoi were used to place the head of the dead body in.

Pithos burials were common mainly on Mainland Greece while such examples have been discovered at Agia Irini on Keos, Phylakopi on Melos but also in cemeteries of Middle Minoan Crete. Beyond Mainland Greece pithos burials occur on the coast and inland of Asia Minor.