Tumulus

For other uses, see Tumulus (disambiguation).

Tomb of King Alyattes at Bin Tepe in Lydia, modern Turkey, built c. 560 BC.[1] It is one of the largest tumuli ever built,[2] with a diameter of 360 meters and a height of 61 meters.[3]
The Royal Mounds of Gamla Uppsala in Sweden from the 5th and 6th centuries. Originally, the site had 2,000 to 3,000 tumuli, but due to quarrying and agriculture only 250 remain.
La Cambe German war cemetery
One of the Hallstatt culture–era tumuli in the Sulm valley necropolis
Kasta tumulus Amphipolis

A tumulus (pl.: tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or (in Siberia and Central Asia) kurgans, and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built for various purposes, may also originally have been a tumulus.

Tumuli are often categorised according to their external apparent shape. In this respect, a long barrow is a long tumulus, usually constructed on top of several burials, such as passage graves. A round barrow is a round tumulus, also commonly constructed on top of burials. The internal structure and architecture of both long and round barrows have a broad range; the categorization only refers to the external apparent shape.

The method of inhumation may involve a dolmen, a cist, a mortuary enclosure, a mortuary house, or a chamber tomb. Examples of barrows include Duggleby Howe and Maeshowe.

  1. ^ Ratte, Philippe (1993). "The Tomb of Atyattes". Publications de l'Institut Français d'Études Anatoliennes (in French). 3 (1): 1–12.
  2. ^ Taylor, Richard P. (2000). Death and the Afterlife: A Cultural Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 381. ISBN 978-0874369397.
  3. ^ Fergusson, James. Rubinde Stone Monuments. pp. 31–32.