The grave mound is a traditional component of the external design of the burial. That elevation above the grave, which in modern Russian cemeteries is limited by an iron or stone fence, which is part of the monument, is also a hill above the burial.
Huge Scythian burial mounds are also a kind of burial mound. This design of burials is characteristic of almost every nation. But the hills in different cultures are not similar, they differ in appearance, although the meaning of their construction is the same.
What is this?
The grave mound is the same earthen mound that rises above the burial or burial pit. It can be decorated in different ways, moreover, the hill in some cultures was part of the burial itself. That is, it contained passages, hiding places and other elements that make up the burial complex.
Ancient burial mounds are the most common type of burial mounds, which are an integral part of the burial itself, and do not serve as a tombstone ormonument.
Modern grave mound functions exclusively as a tombstone and is actually a disappearing element of burial culture. Currently, burials are extremely rarely made out of hills. Most people prefer to decorate the graves of deceased relatives without earthen mounds, in the American style. That is, the burial line is compared to the ground, remains flat, and the grave stands out due to the slab or the monument.
How did these hills come about?
The history of the emergence of the tradition of leaving earth mounds over burials is hidden in the darkness of centuries. No historian will be able to say when, where and how the very first mound appeared over the grave.
It is quite possible that the first hills appeared by accident, and due to their occurrence was completely prosaic reasons. After all, if the funeral rite involves placing the body of the deceased in the ground, and not burning or drowning, then this ritual is based on three simple actions. It is required to dig a hole, place the body in it and fill it with earth. At the end of this process, you will definitely get an earthen elevation, a mound. You can conduct an experiment and bury something in a hole. The result will be the same: a hill of earth will appear above the hole, proportional in volume to the buried object. Of course, if you dig in, without trying to specifically level the soil.
With the development of mankind, and, accordingly, the formation of ideas about the afterlife and death itself, grave hillsbecame big and began to be given special importance.
Which hills are the most famous?
Each ancient burial mound is not only someone's burial, an object of interest for archaeologists, but also a landmark, a part of history that arouses the curiosity of tourists and travelers.
There are a lot of places known for mounds or hills around the globe. But the most famous of them are:
- Qin Shi Huang Mound in China;
- kofun in Hyogo, Fukuoka and Kyoto prefectures in Japan;
- "Black Grave" on the territory of the historical reserve "Chernihiv Ancient" in Ukraine;
- Big Salbyk barrow on the territory of Khakassia;
- Scythian burials in the steppes of the Altai Territory;
- The Great Mounds of Uppsala in Sweden;
- Sutton Hoo necropolis in the UK.
New World is also not deprived of the famous grave hills. In the USA they are called mounds. The largest and most famous of them is the Monks Mound, or the Mound of the Monks. This huge burial mound is part of the Cahokia complex, which consists of 109 burial mounds. These burials are located in the state of Illinois and have a special conservation status of UNESCO, as they are cultural monuments of world importance.
How big are they?
The size of the grave mound in ancient times was a sign of status. The larger and higher the earthen embankment was arranged, the more noble the deceased was. For example, the hills above the burial places of the nobility in Asia rarely turned out to be less than 200 meters in height.diameter.
The world's largest burial mounds are located in Turkey, on a plateau called Bintepe. Otherwise, this place is called "Valley of the Thousand Hills." These mounds belong to the deceased representatives of the Lydian nobility and, of course, are a historical object of world significance. The height of the hills here is 70 meters, if you imagine how much they have settled since the time of the Lydian kingdom, then the scale of the mounds will appear even more impressive.
Among tourists, the plateau is not popular for a very prosaic reason. The graves are located 15 kilometers from the city of Salihli, and there is no way to get to them without a car or motorcycle. There is no museum complex among the hills, no excursions are organized to them, of course, not a single bus goes to the plateau.
What do modern embankments look like?
Traditional for Russian cemeteries, the design of the grave mound is regulated by the law "On Burial and Funeral Business", adopted in 1995. According to this regulation, the minimum allowable burial depth is 1.5 meters, and the maximum is 2.2 meters.
Accordingly, it is this volume of land that forms a mound over the last refuge of the deceased. As for the shape, it is usually an oval, flattened in the upper plane, with sloping edges. However, the form depends on whether any restrictions are used in the design of the burial. For example, in the last century, burials were massively decorated with iron rectangular containers-frames welded together with the monument.
Usually, a mound above the burial is made at least half a meter high with maximum compaction. This is necessary in order to avoid subsidence of the soil before the coffin lid is exposed. However, today most of the graves are decorated differently, and grave mounds are rarely found on modern alleys of cemeteries.
