tumuli
Burial hills, prehistoric
Tumuli is the plural of tumulus, an artificial mound of earth or stones raised over a grave or graves.
These burial mounds appear across many ancient cultures, from Bronze Age Europe to pre-Columbian Americas: The archaeologists mapped several tumuli on the hillside.
The singular tumulus is less common in everyday use than the plural, which often appears in descriptions of archaeological sites.
Load carrier or tumulus
- graveSerious and worrying
- intermentPutting a body underground
- sepulcherChamber for the dead
- cryptSubterranean burial vault
mausoleum · necropolis · cemetery · funerary · mortuary · sarcophagus · ossuary · cairn
Heaped earth formation
- hillLow natural elevation
- knollSmall rounded hill
- barrowLoad carrier or tumulus
- riseMove to higher position
elevation · hummock · hillock · embankment · earthwork · silhouette · landscape · terrain
Act of unearthing
- artifactsHuman-made historical objects
- digUnearth by shoveling
- stratigraphyStudy of rock layers
- potsherdsFragments of broken ceramics
site · prehistoric · neolithic · antiquities · geophysics · surveying · trenches · fieldwork
Ceremonial set of actions
- ancestorsThose from whom one descends
- offeringsThings presented or given
- sacredWorthy of reverence
- venerationProfound admiring respect
cult · pilgrimage · afterlife · memorial · commemoration · chieftain · elite · grave-goods
barrow
Load carrier or tumulus
crypt · mausoleum · necropolis · cemetery · funerary · mortuary · sarcophagus · ossuary · cairn · dolmen
mound
Heaped earth formation
rise · elevation · hummock · hillock · embankment · earthwork · silhouette · landscape · terrain · hillfort
excavation
Act of unearthing
- artifactsHuman-made historical objects
- digUnearth by shoveling
- stratigraphyStudy of rock layers
potsherds · site · prehistoric · neolithic · antiquities · geophysics · surveying · trenches · fieldwork · carbon-dating
ritual
Ceremonial set of actions
veneration · cult · pilgrimage · afterlife · memorial · commemoration · chieftain · elite · grave-goods · libation
- prehistorystone tools, Neolithic, Stone Age, caveman, cavemen
- ancient sitesPompeii, Stonehenge, pyramids, Colosseum, Giza
- archaeologyexcavation, dig site, archaeologist, dig, archaeological digs
- Anatolian ruinsEphesus, Troy, Halicarnassus, Greek ruins, Roman ruins
- Ancient Gravestombs, crypts, mausoleums, burial mounds, sarcophagi
- British PrehistoryStonehenge, stone circles, henges, hill forts, burial mounds