A
tumulus (plural
tumuli) is a
mound of
earth and
stone raised over a
grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as
barrows,
burial mounds,
Hügelgrab or
kurgans, and can be found throughout much of
the
world. A tumulus composed largely or
entirely of stones is usually referred to as a
cairn.
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
.
The word is Latin for 'mound' or 'small hill', from the
PIE root
*
teuh2- with extended zero grade
*
tum-, 'to bulge, swell' also found in
tumor,
thumb,
thigh and
thousand.
"Tumulus" can also refer to a formation caused by the uplift of
lava on a
pahoehoe flow
field. The lava pushes up against the recently solidified surface
creating tumuli along the surface.
Tumulus burial accounts
The funeral of
Patroclus is described in
book 23 of the
Iliad. Patroclus is
burned on a pyre, and his bones are collected into a golden urn in
two layers of fat. The barrow is built on the location of the pyre.
Achilles then sponsors funeral games,
consisting of a
chariot race, boxing,
wrestling, running, a duel between two champions to the first
blood, discus throwing, archery and spear throwing.
Beowulf is taken to Hronesness, where he
burned on a funeral pyre. During cremation, the Geats lament the
death of their lord, a widow's lament being mentioned in
particular, singing dirges as they
circumambulate the barrow.Afterwards, a
mound is built on top of a hill, overlooking the sea, and filled
with treasure. A band of twelve of the best warriors ride around
the barrow, singing dirges in praise of their lord.
Parallels have also been drawn to the account of
Attila's burial in
Jordanes'
Getica. Jordanes tells that as
Attila's body was lying in state, the best horsemen of the
Huns circled it, as in circus games.
An Old Irish
Life of Columcille
reports that every funeral procession "halted at a mound called
Eala, whereupon the corpse was laid, and the mourners marched
thrice solemnly round the spot."
Types of barrows
Archaeologists often classify tumuli
according to their location, form, and date of construction. See
also
mound and
howe. Some
British types are listed below:
- Bank barrow
- Bell barrow
- Bowl barrow
- D-shaped barrow, round barrow
with a purposely flat edge at one side often defined by stone
slabs
- Fancy barrow, generic term for any
Bronze Age barrows more elaborate than a
simple hemispherical shape.
- Long barrow
- Oval barrow, Neolithic long barrow consisting of an elliptical,
rather than rectangular or trapezoidal mound.
- Platform barrow, The least
common of the recognised types of round barrow, consisting of a
flat, wide circular mound, which may be surrounded by a ditch. They
occur widely across southern England with a marked concentration in
East and West Sussex.
- Pond barrow, a barrow consisting of
a shallow circular depression, surrounded by a bank running around
the rim of the depression. Bronze
age
- Ring barrow, a bank which encircles
a number of burials.
- Round barrow, a circular feature
created by the Bronze Age peoples of
Britain and also the later Romans,
Vikings, and Saxons.
Divided into subclasses such as saucer and bell barrow.
The
Six
Hills
are a rare Roman example.
- Saucer barrow, circular Bronze Age
barrow featuring a low, wide mound surrounded by a ditch which may
be accompanied by an external bank.
- Square barrow, burial site,
usually of Iron Age date, consisting of a
small, square, ditched enclosure surrounding a central burial,
which may also have been covered by a mound
Excavation
Sites
Eastern Europe, Central Asia
The word
kurgan is of
Turkic origin borrowed from
Russian language.
In Ukraine and Russia,
there are royal kurgans of Varangian
chieftains, such as the Black Grave
in Ukrainian Chernihiv
(excavated in the 19th century), Oleg's Grave in Russian Staraya Ladoga
, and vast, intricate Rurik's
Hill near Russian Rurikovo
gorodische
. Other important kurgans are found in Ukraine
and South Russia and are associated with much more ancient steppe peoples, notably the Scythians (e.g.,Chortomlyk, Pazyryk) and Proto-Indo-Europeans (e.g., Ipatovo
) The steppe
cultures found in Ukraine and South Russia naturally continue into
Central Asia, in particular Kazakhstan
.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
More than 50 burial mounds were found in Kupres. Man from Kupres-
the sceleton found in one of the tumuli is believed to be more than
3000 years old and it is kept in Gorica museum in Livno.
Bulgaria
Hundreds
of Thracian burial mounds are found
throughout Bulgaria, including the Kazanlak
and Sveshtari
tombs, UNESCO
World Heritage sites. Located near the
ancient Thracian capital cities of Seuthopolis
(of the Odrysian
kingdom) and Daosdava or Helis (of the Getae), perhaps they represented royal burials.
Other tombs contained offerings such as the
Panagyurishte and
Rogozen treasures.
Hungary
There are
many tumuli in the Great Hungarian
Plain, the highest is near of the settlement of Békésszentandrás
, in Békés county
. (see the picture of "Gödény-halom")
Serbia
Western and Central Europe
Austria
Belgium
Britain
In
Britain
, barrows of a wide range of types were in
widespread use for burying the dead from the late Neolithic until the end of the Bronze Age, 2900-800BC. Square barrows were occasionally used in the
Iron Age (800BC-43AD) in the east of England
. The traditional round barrow experienced a
brief resurgence following the
Anglo-Saxon conquests, with the introduction of
northern
Germanic burial practices from
continental Europe. These later barrows were often built near older
Bronze Age barrows. They included a few instances of
ship burial. Barrow burial fell out of use
during the 7th century as a result of the spread of
Christianity.Early scholarly investigation of
tumuli and theorising as to their origins was undertaken from the
17th century by
antiquaries, notably
John Aubrey, and
William Stukeley.
During the 19th
century in England the excavation of tumuli was a popular pastime amongst the educated and wealthy upper
classes, who became known as "barrow-diggers". This leisure
activity played a key role in laying the foundations for the
scientific study of the past in Britain but also resulted in untold
damage to the sites.Notable British barrows include:-
Czech Republic
During the early
Middle Ages,
Slavic tribesmen inhabiting what is now the
Czech Republic used to bury their dead under barrows. This practice
has been widespread in southern and eastern
Bohemia and some neighboring regions, like
Upper Austria and
Lusatia, which at that time have been also populated
with Slavic people.
However, there are no known Slavic barrows
in central part of the country (around Prague
), neither
they are found in Moravia. This has
led some of the archaeologists to speculations about at least three
distinct waves of Slavic settlers, which have colonized Czech lands
separately from each other, each wave bringing its customs with it
(including burial rituals).
At places where barrows have been constructed, they are usually
found in groups (10 to 100 together), often forming several clearly
distinct lines going from the west to the east. Only a few of them
have been studied scientifically so far; in them, both burials by
fire (with burnt ashes) and unburned skeletons have been found,
even on the same site. It seems that builders of the barrows have
at some time switched from burials by fire to burying of unburned
corpses; however, the reason for such change is unknown. The
barrows date too far back in history (700 AD to 800 AD) to contain
any
Christian influences - it is almost
certain that all people buried in them were
pagans.
As Czech barrows usually served for burials of poor villagers, only
a few objects are found in them except for cheap pottery. Only one
Slavic barrow is known to have contained gold.
Most of the Czech burial barrows have been damaged or destroyed by
intense
agriculture in the densely
populated region. Those which remain are usually located in
forests, especially at hilltops in remote places. Therefore there
is no general knowledge about burial barrows in the Czech
population.
The best
Slavic barrow sites can be found near to Vitín
, a small
village close to České Budějovice
. There are two groups of barrows close to
Vitín, each containing about 80 barrows ordered in lines. Some of
the barrows are as much as 2 meters high.
There are also some
prehistoric burial
barrows in Czech Republic, built by unknown people. Unlike Slavic
barrows, they can be found all across the country, though they are
scarce. Distinguishing them from Slavic ones is not an easy task
for the unskilled eye.
Germany
Hügelgrab or Hügel-Grab ("Barrow", "burial mound" or "tumulus") -
sites in Germany
Ireland
A
tumulus can be found close to the Grianán
of Aileach
in County Donegal
. It has been suggested by historians such as
George Petrie, who surveyed
the site in the early nineteenth century, that the tumulus may
predate the
ringfort of Aileach by many
centuries possibly to the neolithic age. Stones surrounded it which
were laid horizontally and converged towards the centre. In
Petrie’s time, the mound had been excavated but nothing to explain
its meaning was discovered. It was subsequently destroyed but its
former position is marked by a heap of broken stones.
Similar mounds can
be found at The Hill of
Tara
and there are several prominent tumuli at Brú na
Bóinne
in County Meath.
Italy
Some big tumulus tombs can be found especially in the Etruscan
culture. Smaller barrows are dated to the Villanova period (9th -
8th century BC) but the biggest were used in the following
centuries (from the 7th century afterwards) by the Etruscan
aristocracy.
Tumulus at Outeiro de Gregos, Baião,
Portugal (V or IV millennium BC)
The Etruscan tumuli were normally family tombs that were used for
many generation of the same noble family, and the deceased were
buried with many precious objects that had to be the "grave goods"
or the furnishings for these "houses" in the Afterlife.Many tombs
also hold paintings, that in many cases represent the funeral or
scenes of real life.The most important graveyards (necropolises)
with tumulus tombs are Veio, Cerveteri, Vetulonia, Populonia. Many
isolated big barrows can be found in the whole Etruscan territory
(mostly in Central Italy).
Portugal
One of the most dense manifestations of the megalithic phenomenon
in Europe occurred in Portugal. In the north of Portugal there are
more than 1000 late prehistoric barrows. They generally occur in
clusters, forming a necropolis. The method of inhumation usually
involves a
dolmen. The tumulus, dated from c.
4450 to 1900 BC, are up to 3 meters high, with diameters from 6 to
30 meters. Most of them are mounds of earth and stones but the more
recent ones are composed largely or entirely of stones (cairns).
In
Portugal
, barrows are called mamoas, from the Latin
mammulas, given to them by the Romans because of their
shape, similar to the breast of a woman.
Scandinavia
Burial mounds were in use until the 11th century in Scandinavia and
figure heavily into
Norse paganism.
In their undamaged state they appear as small, man-made hillocks,
though many examples have been damaged by
ploughing or deliberately damaged so that little
visible evidence remains.
By burning the deceased, it was believed that the person was
transferred to
Valhalla by the consuming
force of the fire. The fire could reach temperatures of 1500 °C.
The remains were covered with cobblestones and then a layer of
gravel and sand and finally a thin layer of turf.
King Björn's barrow in Håga.
As the old Scandinavians worshiped their ancestors, the mounds were
also places of worship. In
Norse
mythology, the
draugr was an undead
creature that haunted burial mounds.
Of note is King
Björn's barrow in Håga (Old Norse word:
Haugr) near Uppsala
. This location has a very strong connection
with
Björn at Haugi. First, the
Nordic Bronze Age barrow gave its
name to the location
Håga ("the barrow"), which became
part of the cognomen of the king,
at Haugi ("at the
barrow"), and interestingly, the mound was later named after the
king.
Αegean and Near East
India
The
Ahom kingdom in medieval Assam
built octagonal tumuli called Maidams for their kings and high officials.
The
kings were buried in a hillock at Charaideo
in Sibsagar district of Assam, whereas other
Maidams are found scattered more widely.
Macedonia
Some of
the world's most prominent Tumuli, the Macedonian tombs and a
cist-grave at Vergina
, tomb of Philip
II (359-336 B.C) of Macedonia and father of Alexander the Great (336-323).
Speculation that the other grave found there is that of
Alexander IV is controversial. His
corpse was allegedly buried in Memphis during the turmoil of the
Diadochi after his death in 323 BC .
Aigai is the ancient capital of
Macedon , homeland of Phillip II. During the 19th
century, the tomb of Philip II was discovered in Vergina, northern
Greece. The Monumental Palace is lavishly decorated with painted
stuccoes and mosaics accompanying a burial ground with as many as
300 tumuli. Some tumuli date from the 11th century B.C. However,
the most renowned is the royal tomb of Philip II, father of
Alexander the Great, who managed to unite by force many Greek
cities, architect of the Hellenistic expansion.
This city lies on the northern slopes of the Pierian Mountains;
Aigai has been identified as the capital of the Kingdom of Lower
Macedonia . The site was inhabited continuously form the Bronze
Age. By the 11th – 8th century BC it was a densely populated and
rich centre. The 7th-6th centuries BC saw the premium point of its
prosperity and popularity; this continued into the 5th century BC.
Traditional sanctuaries were established, as were the seats of the
Macedonian Kings. Royal tombs were known in antiquity to be
opulent.
Excavations were first undertaken at this site by 19th century.
Archaeologists
L. Heuzy of France and
K.
Rhomaios of Greece began but were
stalled by the
First and
Second World Wars and excavations were not
resumed until approximately 1952 . In the 1960s
M. Andronicos was
director of the excavations and the cemetery of the tumuli was
investigated. The Palace of Philip II was excavated by a team from
Thessaloniki University
along with part of the necropolis being investigated by the
Ministry of Culture. 1977 was the pivotal date that M. Andronicos
brought to the attention of the world, the royal tombs in the Great
Tumulus of Vergina, (ΜεγάΛα) tomb. Unfortunately, the townspeople
of Vergina have put a halt to any more excavations for the time
being, under the auspices of preserving their beautiful
surroundings and heritage .
Anatolia
On the
Anatolian peninsula, there are
several sites where one can find the biggest specimens of these
artificial mounds throughout the world. Three of these sites are
especially important.
Bin Tepeler (and other Lydian mounds of the Aegean inland), Phrygian mounds in Gordium
(Central Anatolia), and the famous Commagene tumulus on the Mount Nemrut
(Southeastern Anatolia).
This is the most important of the enumerated sites with the number
of specimens it has and with the dimensions of certain among them.
It is in
the Aegean
inland of Turkey. The site is called
"Bin Tepeler" (a thousand mounds in Turkish) and it is in the
northwest of Salihli
district of Manisa
province. The site is very close to the
southern shoreline of
Lake Marmara
(Lake Gyges or Gygaea). Bin Tepeler is a
Lydian necropolis which
dates back to 7th and 6th centuries B.C. These mounds are called
"the pyramids of Anatolia" as there is even a giant specimen among
them which attains 355 meters in diameter, 1115 meters in perimeter
and 69 meters of height. According to the accounts drawn up by
Herodotus, this giant tumulus belongs to
the famous Lydian King
Alyattes II who
ruled between 619–560 B.C. There is also another mound belonging to
King
Gyges. The Gyges mound was
excavated but the burial chamber hasn't been found yet. In this
site, there are 75 tumuli dating back to Lydian period which belong
to the nobility. A large number of smaller artificial mounds can
also be observed in the site.
There are other Lydian tumuli sites around
Eşme
district
of Uşak
province. Certain mounds in these sites
had been plundered by raiders in the late 1960s and the Lydian
treasures found in their burial chambers had been smuggled to
United States which later had to cede them to Turkish authorities
after a series of negotiations. These artifacts are now exhibited
in the Archaeological Museum of Uşak.
Gordium is the capital of the Phrygian Kingdom. Its ruins are in the
immediate vicinity of Polatlı
district of the Turkish capital Ankara
. In this site, there are approximately
80-90 tumuli which date back to Phrygian,
Persian and
Hellenistic periods. Only 35 tumuli were
excavated so far. The mounds had been built between 8th century
B.C. and 3rd or 2nd century B.C. The biggest tumulus in the site is
believed to belong to the famous Phrygian King
Midas. This mound had been excavated in 1957 and
several
bronze artifacts were collected from
the wooden burial chamber. Among these artifacts, "omphalos bowls"
and famous "Phrygian
fibulae" (hooked needles
which were used by the Phryigians to bond the clothes they wore)
are especially important.
The
Mount Nemrut is 86 km in the east of Adıyaman
province of Turkey
. It is very close to Kahta
district of the same province. The
mountain has, at its peak, 3050 meters of height above the sea
level. A tumulus which dates back to the 1st century B.C. is
situated at the peak of the mountain. This artificial mound has 150
meters of diameter and a height of 50 meters which was originally
55 meters. It belongs to the
Commagene
King
Antiochus I Theos of
Commagene who ruled between 69–40 B.C. The most interesting
thing about the tumulus is that it is made of broken stone pieces
which renders the excavation attempts almost impossible. The
tumulus is surrounded by ceremonial terraces in the east, west and
north. The east and west terraces have tremendous statues (reaching
8 to 10 meters of height) and bas reliefs of gods and goddesses
from the Commagene
pantheon where
divine figures used to embody the
Persian and
Roman perceptions together.
Levant
Jerusalem Tumulus #2 in 2004.
A
tumulus forms the center of the ancient megalithic structure of Rujm el-Hiri
in the Golan Heights
. Rujm in Arabic can
mean tumulus,
cairn or stone heap.
Near the
western city limits of modern Jerusalem
, 19 tumuli have been documented (Amiran,
1958). Though first noticed in the 1870s by early surveyors,
the first one to be formally documented was Tumulus #2 in 1923 by
William Foxwell Albright,
and the most recent one (Tumulus #4) was excavated by
Gabriel Barkay in 1983.
Since 21 kings
reigned in Jerusalem during the Israelite
monarchy from David to Zedekiah (who was conquered and humiliated by the
Chaldean king, Nebuchadnezzar), it is not
unreasonable to suspect that these mounds were the locations of
ceremonies to mourn/honor them after they had already received
proper burial in the royal tombs (probably located in the heart of
the city where they could be continuously guarded). See
2 Chronicles 16:14, 21:19 (which states
that King
Jehoram was not given
this honor), 32:33, the
book of
Jeremiah 34:5 (a conditional promise for
Zedekiah that he did not earn), and
Biblical archaeology.
Gabriel Barkay popularized this theory after
studying tumuli near Salamis in Cyprus
.
- More than half of these ancient Israeli structures have now
been threatened or obliterated by modern construction projects,
including Tumulus #4, which was excavated hastily in a salvage
operation. The most noteworthy finds from this dig were two
LMLK seal impressions and two other
handles with associated Concentric Circle incisions, all of which
suggests this tumulus belonged to either King Hezekiah (Barkay, 2003, p. 68) or his son Manasseh (Grena, 2004, p. 326).
- When
comparing the number of these tumuli to the total number of
Israelite kings (northern and southern), note that Saul never ruled in Jerusalem, and Athaliah was never
crowned. She took the throne by force (2Kings 11:1-3), and would certainly not have
been honored with a tumulus ceremony following her brutal
assassination.
- The
northern kings did not reign over the southern kingdom, and they
would certainly not have been honored with a tumulus ceremony in
Jerusalem; if any ceremonies were held for them, they
would have transpired in the north (near Bethel, Tirzah, or
Samaria
).
- The
association of these tumuli with the Judean kings who ruled
Jerusalem does not substantiate Biblical history since it
is mere speculation. No inscriptions naming any specific
Judean king have been excavated from a tumulus.
East Asia
China
Japan
In
Japan
, powerful leaders built tumuli known as
kofun. The
Kofun period of Japanese history takes its name
from these burial mounds. The largest is over 400 meters in
length. In addition to other shapes, kofun include a keyhole
shape.
Korea
Burial mounds of the Silla kings in
Korea.
The first burial mounds in Korea were
dolmens which contained the material culture of the
first millennium CE, such as bronze-ware, pottery, and other
symbols of the elite of society.
The most
famous tumulii in Korea, dating around 300 AD, are those left
behind by the Korean Baekje, Goguryeo(Kogyuro/Koguryo), Silla, and Gaya states and are clustered around
ancient capital cities in modern-day Pyongyang
, Seoul
, Ji'an, and Gwangju
. The Goguryeo tombs, shaped like
pyramids, are famous for the well-preserved wall murals like the
ones at
Anak Tomb No.3 which depict
the culture and artistry of the people. The base of the tomb of
King
Gwanggaeto is 85 meters on each
side, half of the size of the Great Pyramids.
[45435] Goguryeo Silla tombs are most noted for
the fabulous offerings that have been excavated such as delicate
golden crowns and glassware and beads that probably made their way
to Korea via the
Silk Road.
Many indigenous Korean artifacts and culture were transmitted to
the tomb builders of early Japan, such as horsetrappings, bronze
mirrors, paintings and iron-ware.
- *
see also Cheonmachong
, the Heavenly Horse Tomb
North America
Burial mound of a Maritime Archaic boy at L'Anse Amour,
Newfoundland.
Canada
Human
settlement in L'anse Amour
dates back at least 7,500 years as evidenced by the
burial mound of a Maritime Archaic boy. His body was wrapped
in a shroud of bark or hide and placed face down with his head
pointed to the west. The site was first excavated in the
1970s.
The Augustine Mound is an important
Mi'kmaq
burial site in New Brunswick.
United States
Mound building was a central feature of the public
architecture of many
Native American cultures
from Chile to Minnesota. Thousands of mounds in the USA have been
destroyed as a result of farming, pot-hunting, amateur and
professional archaeology, road-building and construction. Surviving
mounds are still found in river valleys, especially along the
Mississippi,
Tennessee and
Ohio
Rivers.
Mounds were used for burial, to support
residential and religious structures, to represent a shared
cosmology, and to unite and demarcate
community. Common forms include conical mounds, ridge-top mounds,
platform mounds, and animal
effigy mounds, but there are many variations.
Mound building in the USA is believed to date back to at least 3400
BC in the Southeast (see
Watson Brake).
The
Adena and the
Mississippian cultures are principally
known for their mounds, as is the
Hopewell tradition.
The largest mound
site north of Mexico
is Cahokia
, a vast World
Heritage Site located just east of St. Louis, Missouri.
The
largest conical burial mound in the United States is the Grave
Creek Mound
in Moundsville, West Virginia
.
References
- Calvert Watkins, American Heritage Dictionary of
Indo-European Roots, 2000, p. 92.
- Frederick Klaeber, Attila's and Beowulf's funeral,
PMLA (1927); Martin Puhvel, The Ride around Beowulf's
Barrow, Folklore (1983).
- http://www.kosovo.net/crucified/cr_heritage.html
- Knight, Peter, Ancient Stones of Dorset, 1996.
- Grinsell, L.V., 1936, The Ancient Burial-mounds of
England. London: Methuen.
See also
External links
, Illyrian
tumuli and necropolis
(in Niederösterreich
)
)
(Liège
(Liège
(Walloon
Brabant
), around 3,000 BCE.
(Walloon
Brabant
(Walloon
Brabant
(Flemish
Brabant
)
(Flemish
Brabant
(Flemish
Brabant
(Hainaut
), 6th and 7th-century Merovingian tombs.
(Walloon
Brabant
(Liège
), 3rd and 4th millennium BCE.
- Neolithic long barrow in Wiltshire
- Neolithic long barrow and chamber tomb in
Oxfordshire (historically Berkshire)
- Neolithic long barrow in Gloucestershire
- 7th-century East Anglian
ship burial with exceptionally rich grave goods in
Suffolk
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