Shaft tomb
A shaft tomb or shaft grave is a type of deep rectangular burial structure, similar in shape to the much shallower cist grave, containing a floor of pebbles, walls of rubble masonry, and a roof constructed of wooden planks.[1]
Practice
The practice of digging shaft tombs was a widespread phenomenon with prominent examples found in Mycenaean Greece (i.e. Grave Circle A and Grave Circle B) and in Bronze Age China.[2]
Mycenaean Greece
Mycenaean shaft graves originated and evolved from rudimentary Middle Helladic cists, tumuli, and tholos tombs with features derived from Early Bronze Age traditions developed locally in mainland Greece.[3] Middle Helladic burials would ultimately serve as the basis for the royal Shaft Graves containing a variety of grave goods, which signified the elevation of a native Greek-speaking royal dynasty whose economic power depended on long-distance sea trade.[4] The depth of Mycenaean shaft tombs would range from 1.0 m to 4.0 m with a mound constructed for each grave and stelae erected.[5]
Bronze Age China
Shaft graves were utilized by elites from the Shang Dynasty (or Yin Dynasty) of northern China.[2]
See also
- Grave Circle A, Mycenae
- Grave Circle B, Mycenae
- Grave field
- Ixtlán del Rio (archaeological site)
- Shaft and chamber tomb
- Western Mexico shaft tomb tradition
References
Citations
- ↑ Pedley 2011, p. 86.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Kipfer 2000, "shaft grave", p. 508.
- ↑ Dickinson 1999, pp. 103, 106–107.
- ↑ Dickinson 1977, pp. 53, 107; Dickinson 1999, pp. 97–107; Anthony 2007, p. 48.
- ↑ Komita 1982, pp. 59–60.
Sources
- Anthony, David W. (2007). The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-05887-3.
- Dickinson, Oliver (December 1999). Invasion, Migration and the Shaft Graves. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 43 (1). pp. 97–107. doi:10.1111/j.2041-5370.1999.tb00480.x.
- Dickinson, Oliver (1977). The Origins of Mycenaean Civilization. Götenberg: Paul Aströms Förlag.
- Kipfer, Barbara Ann (2000), Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology, New York: Springer, ISBN 0-306-46158-7
- Komita, Nobuo (1982). "The Grave Circles at Mycenae and the Early Indo-Europeans". Research Reports of Ikutoku Technical University (A-7): 59–70.
- Pedley, John Griffiths (2011). Greek Art and Archaeology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-20-500133-0.
External links
- Horejs, Barbara; Pavúk, Peter, eds. (2007). "The Aegeo-Balkan Prehistory Project". The Aegeo-Balkan Prehistory Team.
- Rutter, Jeremy B. "Prehistoric Archeology of the Aegean". Hanover, NH: Dartmouth College.