Grave hill is a traditional component of the external design of the burial. The elevation above the grave, which in modern Russian cemeteries is sometimes limited by an iron or stone fence, which is part of the monument, is also a hill above the grave.
Huge Scythian mounds are also a kind of grave hill. Such registration 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 it is?
The grave hill 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, passages, caches and other elements making up the funeral complex were located in it.
Ancient burial mounds are the most common type of grave mounds, which are an integral part of the burial itself, and not performing the functions of a tombstone or monument.
The modern grave hill functions exclusively as a tombstone and in fact is an endangered element of the funerary culture. Currently, burials are extremely rarely formed by hills. Most people prefer to make out the graves of deceased relatives without earth mounds, in the American manner. That is, the burial line is compared with the ground, remains flat, and the grave stands out due to the slab or monument.
How did these hills come about?
The history of the tradition to leave earthen embankments over burials is hidden in the darkness of centuries. No historian will be able to tell when, where, and how the very first mound above the grave arose.
It is possible that the first hills appeared by chance, and due to their occurrence was completely prosaic reasons. After all, if a funeral rite involves placing the body of the deceased in the ground, rather than burning or drowning, then this ritual is based on three simple actions. It is required to dig a hole, place a body in it and cover it with earth. At the end of this process, an earthen elevation, a mound, will surely turn out. You can conduct an experiment and bury something in a hole. The result will be the same: a hill of land will appear above the pit, proportional in volume to the buried object. Of course, if you dig in, not trying to specifically level the soil.
With the development of mankind, and, accordingly, the formation of ideas about the afterlife and death itself, the grave hills became large and they began to betray special significance to them.
Which hills are most famous?
Each ancient grave hill is not only someone’s burial place, the subject of interest of archaeologists, but also a tourist attraction, a part of history that arouses the curiosity of tourists and travelers.
There are many places known due to mounds or hills around the globe. But the most famous of them are as follows:
- Qin Shih Huang Mound in China;
- kofuns in the territories of Hyogo, Fukuoka and Kyoto prefectures in Japan;
- "Black Grave" in the territory of the historical reserve "Ancient Chernigov" in Ukraine;
- Big Salbyk barrow in the territory of Khakassia;
- Scythian burials in the steppes of the Altai Territory;
- Great mounds of Uppsala in Sweden;
- Sutton Hoo necropolis in the UK.
The 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 Monks Mound, or the Mound of Monks. This huge grave hill is part of the Kahokiya complex, consisting of 109 barrows. These burials are located in the state of Illinois and have a special conservation status of UNESCO, as they are cultural monuments of world significance.
How big are they?
The size of the grave hill in antiquity 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 burials of nobles in Asia rarely turned out to be less than 200 meters in diameter.
The largest mounds in the world are located in Turkey, on a plateau called Bintepe. Otherwise, this place is called the 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 Lydian kingdom, then the scale of the embankments will appear in even more impressive light.
Among tourists, the plateau is not popular for a very prosaic reason. The burials are located 15 kilometers from the city of Salikhli, 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.
