Kurgan

A Kurgan (Russian курган = Kurgan = hill, hills grave, originally Turkish) is a large, filled-up from the earth and / or stones conical grave mound. The plants commonly referred to as tumuli were created from the Neolithic Age to the ancient world, in some places to the Middle Ages. Kurgans are commonly found in Moldova, Russia, Ukraine and the ostgeorgischen Trialeti culture. Also in Southeastern and Central Europe, there are numerous tumuli. Most of lying in or under the hills grave chambers have been robbed over the millennia, but still sensational discoveries made ​​during archaeological excavations.

Stone Age and Bronze Age

The kurgans of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age (from the 5th millennium BC) were built by members of the so-called ocher grave culture (bar grave, pit grave culture and the Katakombengrab culture) mostly along rivers. They contain a grave chamber with a single male skeleton, sometimes together with skeletons of one or more women and subordinates, who had apparently been sacrificed for the funeral. Grave goods are often weapons in later tombs also sacrificed horses and all the cars.

The Lithuanian archaeologist Marija Gimbutas has summarized from 1956 a number of these grave mound-building peoples of the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age in Russia, Ukraine and Moldova due to common characteristics of their burials as " Kurgan culture ".

Iron Age

During the Iron Age ( 1st millennium BC) kurgans were mainly of Scythians and Sarmatians built in the Eurasian region, predominantly on the highest peaks in the steppes. This grave mound often formed a chain 5 to 10 kilometers in length, which perhaps served the area delimitation. In the public finds from this era were known mainly because of the " Gold of the Scythians ." For decades, Mrs. skeletons are here again and again in individual graves have been found. The American archaeologist Jeannine Davis - Kimball divided them into four groups, depending on the type and number of grave goods: warriors, priestesses, warriors, priestesses and women of the cooker. Davis - Kimball sees this as evidence for the equality of women in Sarmatian tribes, which could indicate a mixing with the Amazons. Current genetic tests were able to find in today's Kazakhstan direct ( blonde ) descendants of a woman from a 2,500 -year-old süduralischen Kurgan.

Experimental Archaeology

Experimental archeology has found that the construction of a Kurgan hill grave in steppe areas at least 100 people were employed for a month, without the usual lining of the actual grave chamber (s ) with wood or stone materials. Wood for the grave chambers was proven many times in the winter beaten ( in the forested winter quarters ), and transported over long distances to the place of burial. Ready kurgans could quite easily reach a height of over 20 meters.