Tomb

A burial structure or chamber; the term is applied loosely to all kinds of graves, funerary monuments, and memorials. In many cultures and civilizations the tomb was superseded by, or coexisted with, monuments or memorials to the dead. The style of tombs has undergone different phases of developm...

archaeologsEnglishTombs

Tomb

Chamber Tomb

A prehistoric tomb, often megalithic in construction, that contained a large burial chamber. Such a vault was usually used for successive burials over a long period of time. The term is also used for a rock-cut tomb, especially the shaft-and-chamber tomb, with a similar burial rite. Chamber tombs...

archaeologsEnglishTombs

Chamber Tomb

Collective Tomb

A chamber tomb of Neolithic times, either rock-cut or megalithic, built to contain many burials, often successive depositions spread over a long time. By 4000 BC the first big collective tombs were built from boulders in Spain.

archaeologsEnglishTombs

Collective Tomb

Cave Tomb

A burial in a cave, a place of habitation and ritualistic practices such as cave art. The talus is the area just outside the cave.

archaeologsEnglishTombs

Cave Tomb

Cist Tomb

A prehistoric coffin containing either a body or ashes, usually made of stone or a hollowed-out tree, of Europe and Asia. The grave might be lined with stones and covered with slabs or enclosed on four sides by stone slabs standing upright and closed with a lid (dolmen). Cists were for one or sev...

archaeologsEnglishTombs

Cist Tomb

Abu Simbel

The site of two rock-cut temples of the Egyptian king Rameses II (1279-1213 BC), located southeast of Aswan, formerly Nubia. The facade of the largest temple is dominated by four 20-meter-high (67 feet) seated figures of Rameses and the main part of the temple is cut into the solid rock of the hi...

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural, Tombs, Place Names

Abu Simbel

Shaft-And-Chamber Tomb

A tomb in which the burials are laid in a side chamber opening from the bottom of a pit.

archaeologsEnglishTombs

Shaft-And-Chamber Tomb

Rock-Shelter Tomb

A burial in a rock shelter, a place of habitation and ritualistic practices.

archaeologsEnglishTombs

Rock-Shelter Tomb

Mounded Tomb

A type of elite burial used in East Asia built with monumental earthen or stone-piled mounds which contained burial facilities. The burials ranged from wooden chambers, clay enclosures, to brick or stone megalithic chambers. There were round and square mounds and Japan's were keyhole-shaped. The ...

archaeologsEnglishTombs

Mounded Tomb

Gallery Grave

A tunnel-shaped megalithic tomb of Europe, characterized by a rectangular chamber with no separate entrance passage. The structure therefore resembles a megalithic corridor under an elongated mound, though sometimes they are cut in the rock. Gallery graves are frequently but not always found unde...

archaeologsEnglishTombs

Gallery Grave

Mural Tomb

Mounded tombs of East Asia which have painted frescoes on the walls of the interior stone chamber. These tombs are associated with Koguryo, but also occur in China and Japan. The murals are genre paintings, portraits, and directional deities of the Chinese tradition.

archaeologsEnglishTombs

Mural Tomb

Beehive Tomb

An architectural structure of the Mycenaean civilization, a pointed dome built up of overhanging (corbeled) blocks of conglomerate masonry cut and polished, often with an alley or approach and a great door. The rich or noble of the Bronze Age were buried in these sometimes enormous, perfectly pro...

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural, Tombs

Beehive Tomb

Tombstone

A stone placed across a grave.

archaeologsEnglishTombs

Tombstone

Mastaba

The Arabic word for 'bench', a mudbrick superstructure of Egyptian tombs, mainly of the Archaic Period and Old Kingdom, including the royal tombs of the 1st and 2nd Dynasty. It was a low, rectangular building with a flat roof and vertical or slightly inclined walls that enclosed the shaft to the ...

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural, Tombs

Mastaba

Great Tombs Period

A period in Japanese history, 4th-7th century AD, known for round tombs covered by a mound with a square platform off to the side, making a keyhole shape. Towards end of period, tombs were very large and surrounded by a moat, and earthenware figures and models (Haniwa) were placed in a series of ...

archaeologsEnglishPeriods, Tombs

Great Tombs Period

Saff Tomb

A type of rock-cut tomb of the Theban 11th Dynasty that consisting of a row of openings - or colonnade - in the hillside. They were constructed primarily in the el-Tarif area of western Thebes for the local rulers of the 11th Dynasty (Intef I-III, 2125-2055 BC). The term 'saff' (Arabic for 'row')...

archaeologsEnglishTombs

Saff Tomb

Pazyryk

A group of some 40 barrows in the Altai Mountains of central Asia in Kazakhstan, dating to the 5th-3rd centuries BC. They consist of pits some 6 meters square covered with low cairns. The construction and altitude have combined to keep their contents frozen, and are thus remarkably well preserved...

archaeologsEnglishPlace Names, Tombs

Pazyryk

Keyhole Tomb

Any mounded tomb of the Kofun Period in Japan. The ground plan was shaped like a keyhole and they are assumed to be tombs of rulers or the elite in the 4th-5th centuries AD.

archaeologsEnglishTombs

Keyhole Tomb

Clyde-Carlingford Tombs

A series of megalithic chamber tombs in southwestern Scotland and northern Ireland with some radiocarbon dates before 3000 BC, an early stage of the Neolithic. They are sometimes described as segmented gallery graves, since they have subdivided rectangular chambers. Another important characterist...

archaeologsEnglishTombs

Clyde-Carlingford Tombs

Severn-Cotswold Tomb

A group of Neolithic burial monuments in southwest Britain around the Bristol Channel - megalithic tombs consisting of a long mound, tapering on one end, with one or more passage graves. In the finest tombs, the funerary area is a long gallery with up to three pairs of side chambers opening from ...

archaeologsEnglishTombs

Severn-Cotswold Tomb

Langi Tombs

Large square or rectangular earthen burial mounds on the island of Tonga of the Tui Tonga dynasty. They have terraced sides faced with slabs of cut coral limestone. Some contain burial chambers, also built of coral slabs. According to tradition, langi were the burial places of the Tongan ruling a...

archaeologsEnglishTombs

Langi Tombs

Hogback Tomb

A type of house-shaped tomb, with a curved ridge, which originated in the areas of Scandinavian settlement in northwestern England in the 10th century. They take the form of rectangular blocks with pitched roofs, and are usually decorated with designs.

archaeologsEnglishTombs

Hogback Tomb

Stele

Daha çok mezar taşı işlevi gören, ama adak, anı ya da sınır taşı olarak da dikilen taş levha. Nerede ortaya çıktığı belirsizdir. Ama bezemeli ya da düz taş levhaların gerek Doğu'da, gerekse Yunanistan'da (Miken uygarlığında ve Geometrik dönemde) mezar taşı olarak yaygın biçimde kullanıldığı bilin...

archaeologsTurkishTombs, Others

Stele

Stela or stele, an upright, freestanding stone monument, often inscribed or carved in relief, and sometimes painted. These pillars or tablets of stone were often used to mark a grave or erected as a monument. Inscriptions may commemorate a victory or a major event or proclaim a formal decree. Ste...

archaeologsEnglishTombs, Others

Stele

Rock-cut Tomb

Kaya mezarları, kayaya oyulmuş oda mezarlardır. Mısır'da, bu yöntem Orta Krallık (İ.Ö. 1938-1600) döneminde kullanılmaya başlandı. Nil Nehri üzerindeki kayalıklarda, Krallar Vadisi'ndeki mezarlarda ve Luksor'daki soyluların mezarlarında önemli örnekler vardır. Yeni Krallık döneminde (İ.Ö. 1539-10...

archaeologsTurkishTombs

Rock-cut Tomb

A chamber tomb cut into solid rock. In Egypt, this method was used during Middle Kingdom (c 1938-1600 BC); examples are found in cliffs along the Nile, burials in the Valley of the Kings, and tombs of the nobles at Luxor. In the New Kingdom (1539-1075 BC) the kings were buried in rock-cut tombs, ...

archaeologsEnglishTombs

Rock-cut Tomb