Tumuli

Connected Sites: 45

Definition
A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves.

Map

Connected Sites

  • Cilento and Vallo di Diano
    Inscribed: 1998
    3.39
    169
    5
    La tomba del Principe in Monte Pruno
  • Volubilis
    Volubilis
    Morocco
    Inscribed: 1997
    3.40
    210
    6
    AB: "there is a burial mound dating from the 3rd/2nd century BC"
  • Kernavė
    Kernavė
    Lithuania
    Inscribed: 2004
    2.32
    148
    8
  • Gamzigrad-Romuliana
    Inscribed: 2007
    2.68
    80
    7
    The mausolea of Galerius and his mother are hidden in two tumuli, visible from the main palace
  • Tassili n'Ajjer
    Inscribed: 1982
    3.62
    21
    2
    The lowlands have stone tumuli and hearths dating between 6000 to 4000 BCE. (wiki)
  • Moidams
    Moidams
    India
    Inscribed: 2024
    2.06
    5
    3
    "royal burial mounds or "moidams" ("home"-for-spirit")" - "The moidams (...) are created by providing an earth cover over a hollow vault constructed of brick, stone, or earth. The vaults contain the buried or cremated remains of kings and other royal individuals together with grave goods." (Ab Ev)
  • Archaeological Site of Aigai
    Inscribed: 1996
    3.52
    123
    11
  • Mozu-Furuichi Kofun
    Inscribed: 2019
    2.12
    80
    5
    "distinctive burial mounds called kofun" (AB ev)
  • Stonehenge and Avebury
    Inscribed: 1986
    3.74
    430
    18
    Avebury Silbury hill near Avebury (biggest tumulus in Europe), West Kennet Barrow and East Kennet Barrow. Also many smaller ones.
  • Himā Cultural area
    Inscribed: 2021
    2.33
    22
    3
    Ceramic remains of mid-to later Holocene times occur widely, and are especially common at a series of rock tumuli at Najd Sahi. (nom file p.14)
  • Saloum Delta
    Inscribed: 2011
    2.86
    38
    4
    Shellfish tumuli
  • Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump
    Inscribed: 1981
    2.93
    86
    10
    a tumulus where vast quantities of buffalo (American Bison) skeletons can still be found (Unesco website)
  • Etruscan Necropolises
    Inscribed: 2004
    3.48
    166
    9
  • Cahokia Mounds
    Cahokia Mounds
    United States of America
    Inscribed: 1982
    2.63
    98
    9
    "The mounds served variously as construction foundations for public buildings and as funerary tumuli." (OUV)
  • Brú na Bóinne
    Inscribed: 1993
    3.63
    206
    11
  • Al-Faw
    Al-Faw
    Saudi Arabia
    Inscribed: 2024
    1.29
    4
    3
    "The rich archaeological remains reflect the multifaceted lives of the occupants, including (...) the funerary landscape of tumuli and cairns in the valley" - "There are 178 tumuli (or cruciform tombs) and 2,657 cairns at the foot of Jabal Tuwayq" (AB Ev)
  • Sardis and the Lydian Tumuli of Bin Tepe
    Inscribed: 2025
    2.90
    22
    3
    several Tumuli in Bin Tepe, as burial places for the Lydian kings
  • Megaliths of Carnac
    Inscribed: 2025
    3.10
    72
    5
    "A variety of monumental stone structures, such as menhirs, standing stone (or stelae) alignments, stone circles, cairns, and tombs of different types covered by tumuli or simple mounds, were constructed in specific locations, in relation to the topographical features and the spatial and visual interconnections between the megaliths themselves." (AB Ev)
  • Inscribed: 2025
    0
    0
    "The tombs reserved for dignitaries consist of a cylindrical well, closed with a large stone slab and topped by a low tumulus delimited by a stone wall. They are four-sided in shape. "Ordinary" people's tombs are marked with a simple stone slab, or a cylindrical tumulus for men who have been able to sacrifice a bull during their lives." (Ab Ev)
  • Taxila
    Taxila
    Pakistan
    Inscribed: 1980
    2.98
    43
    4
    tumulus of Saraikala
  • Inscribed: 1999
    3.28
    21
    3
    There have been numerous findings in the tumuli including unique golden adornments and artifacts of metal and clay. (EOEarth)
  • Thracian tomb of Sveshtari
    Inscribed: 1985
    2.85
    87
    6
    The tomb is covered by a burial mound
  • The Royal Court of Tiébélé
    Inscribed: 2024
    3.32
    7
    2
    "Other characteristic symbolic elements of the Royal Court of Tiébélé are located outside the compound. These include the pourou, the sacred tumulus where the placenta of the new-borns of the royal family are buried". (Ab Ev)
  • Tanbaly
    Tanbaly
    Kazakhstan
    Inscribed: 2004
    3.15
    38
    4
    "A huge number of ancient burials are known on the site. ... the later types consist of mounds (kurgans) of stone and earth built above tombs. The latter seem to date from the Early Iron Age to the present day." (AB ev)
  • Stone Circles of Senegambia
    Inscribed: 2006
    2.45
    35
    3
    "The complexes conserve their integrity in terms of spatial associations of the component circles, individual megaliths and tumuli." (AB ev)
  • Solovetsky Islands
    Inscribed: 1992
    3.43
    22
    2
    over 600 stone burial cairns
  • Sammallahdenmäki
    Inscribed: 1999
    2.11
    102
    6
    Stone cairns
  • Pergamon
    Pergamon
    Turkiye
    Inscribed: 2014
    3.56
    141
    6
    Ikili tumuli
  • Neolithic Orkney
    Neolithic Orkney
    United Kingdom
    Inscribed: 1999
    3.79
    106
    11
    Maeshowe
  • Nemrut Dag
    Nemrut Dag
    Turkiye
    Inscribed: 1987
    4.12
    77
    14
    the tumulus at the site, which is 49 m (161 ft) tall and 152 m (499 ft) in diameter (wiki)
    See en.wikipedia.org
  • Koguryo Tombs
    Koguryo Tombs
    Korea (DPR)
    Inscribed: 2004
    2.73
    23
    2
    "The best known cultural heritage remains of this kingdom are thousands of tombs, built of stone and covered by stone or earthen mounds. Earthen mound tombs, including many with murals, were prevalent once Koguryo moved its capital to Pyongyang - but existed in other parts of the kingdom as well." - Nomination file
  • Koguryo Kingdom
    Inscribed: 2004
    2.94
    27
    3
    "Some of the tombs show great ingenuity in their elaborate ceilings, designed to roof wide spaces without columns and carry the heavy load of a stone or earth tumulus (mound), which was placed above them." - Nomination File
  • Jelling
    Jelling
    Denmark
    Inscribed: 1994
    2.38
    193
    10
  • Gyeongju
    Gyeongju
    Republic of Korea
    Inscribed: 2000
    3.30
    146
    14
  • Golden Mountains of Altai
    Inscribed: 1998
    3.38
    22
    3
    The Pazyryk tombs are Scythian kurgans, that is barrow-like tomb mounds of larch logs covered over by large cairns of boulders and stones, dated to between the 6th and 3rd centuries BCE. (wiki)
    See en.wikipedia.org
  • Gaya Tumuli
    Gaya Tumuli
    Republic of Korea
    Inscribed: 2023
    2.51
    45
    4
    “The introduction of new forms of tombs and the intensification of the spatial hierarchy in the tumuli sites reflect the structural changes experienced by Gaya society during its history.” - UNESCO Description
  • Dilmun Burial Mounds
    Inscribed: 2019
    2.11
    77
    6
    "Six of the selected site components are burial mound fields consisting of some dozen to several thousand tumuli. Together they comprise about 11,774 burial mounds." (OUV)
  • Dholavira: A Harappan City
    Inscribed: 2021
    2.85
    13
    2
    "Six hemispherical tumuli are the most conspicuous features of curiosity and promise in the zone of [the] western necropolis." They surround a "depression representing a buried water body and were believed to be of special significance in terms of their shape, size and location. Two of them (...) have been subjected to archaeological investigation which confirmed their being funerary monuments of exceeding importance and unique character". (Nomination text, p. 223)
  • Danube Limes
    Danube Limes
    Austria, Germany, Slovakia
    Inscribed: 2021
    2.06
    246
    6
    Carnuntum (ID No 31): "cemeteries along the ancient radial roads, whereby elaborate tomb architecture such as funeral altars, pillar monuments or tomb chapels as well as tumulus tombs were found" (Nomination file, p. 79)
  • Curonian Spit
    Curonian Spit
    Lithuania, Russia
    Inscribed: 2000
    3.28
    164
    7
    500 tumuli were discovered in Kaup
  • Białowieża Forest
    Białowieża Forest
    Belarus, Poland
    Inscribed: 1979
    2.75
    103
    9
    184 old Slav burial tumuli from the 10th and 11th centuries have been found (UNEP-WCMC)
  • Talayotic Menorca
    Inscribed: 2023
    2.93
    49
    4
    Torralba d'en Salort in Component C6: "(...) the underground or semi-underground structures like the hypostyle hall (which conserves part of the earthen tumulus that covers the roof)" (Nomination file, p. 443) – "The dolmen of Ses Roques Llises (...) includes a corridor delimited by stone slabs (only the left side slab still exists), a rectangular chamber accessed through a perforated stone slab and the remains of a tumulus (which likely covered the entire tomb) that enveloped the structure."
    See www.menorcatalayotica.info
  • Hopewell
    Hopewell
    United States of America
    Inscribed: 2023
    2.23
    42
    7
    Mound City: ".. the highest density of burial mounds of any Hopewell earthwork." (nom file)
  • Gordion
    Gordion
    Turkiye
    Inscribed: 2023
    2.75
    46
    4
    "Surrounding the Citadel Mound and the Lower and Outer Towns, more than one hundred tumuli – earthen mounds protecting the burials of the ruling class – dot the landscape of Gordion. Their size is variable, from small humps on the ground to large-scale mounds, such as the tumulus known as the Midas Mound" (AB ev)
  • Ennedi Massif
    Inscribed: 2016
    4.06
    6
    2
    tumuli grouped in large necropolises (AB ev)