What is a mound: definition, photo

The article tells about what a mound is, for which people erected such structures, what kinds of them are and where they are distributed.

Ancient times

Such a trait as religiousness is natural for a person. And finding mysticism where everything can be explained rationally is absolutely normal. Of course, every year (according to polls in developed countries) the number of atheists is growing, but, anyway, belief in higher forces and something like that is a normal and natural process that goes back to ancient times and is inherent in human nature Almost at the genetic level.

If we talk about when our ancestors had religiousness and belief in the afterlife, then it is difficult to determine. However, the first date is considered to be about 100 thousand years ago. Perhaps they were before, but it is this age that is dated to the discovery of the grave of one of the Neanderthals. Not only that our ancestor was buried deliberately, but also with the help of analysis it was found that flowers were regularly brought to his grave. Despite the seemingly fantastic nature, it's true - there were traces of pollen of flowers on the grave, and the amount of it says that they were assigned specifically. So, the ancient people already had a developed mentality and believed in something mystical and symbolic.

The very method of burial at all times was considered very important. Thus, people gave the last fellowship the last service. Depending on his social status, position in society and other merits, the method of burial was very different. Simply put, a brave warrior was buried quite differently than a robber or another antisocial element. If you reject the very exotic, then one of the most common is the burial in a special mound. Moreover, it is thanks to this method that a lot of graves have survived to this day. So what is a mound? And what are they like? We will talk about this.

Definition

If, for an exact definition, refer to the encyclopedia, then according to it, the mound is one of the types of funerary monuments, depending on the region and the terrain, their form may vary, but the general principle remains the same - a large earthen mound above the pit, where one person was buried Or several. Scientists have discovered mounds, which became the last shelter for whole families of noble people of antiquity. So now we know what a mound is. But why such difficulties?

Honors

As already briefly mentioned, the whole point is the importance of a person in life and his social status. Even in our enlightened age, it is enough to look at almost any cemetery, and it becomes clear - people still attach great importance to the appearance of graves, tombstones and other things. Of course, this is not important to everyone. And what can we say about our ancestors, for whom the belief in higher powers, witchcraft and other mysticism, were part of their lives since childhood. Although this did not prevent them from pursuing "sorcerers" and "witches." So now we know what a mound is.

And naturally, after the death of a nobleman, a great warrior or ruler, his relatives, relatives or simply subjects, wanted to perpetuate the memory of him. True, it was not always so, and history knows examples when hated kings and other rulers were deliberately buried so that no one knew about their place. If you ever buried. From modern history one can cite the example of Hitler.

So what is a mound? The photo shows them usually high earthen hill, in the depths of which human remains rest. By the way, in a number of different religions, people believed that in the afterlife the person would take away what lies next to him, because in the barrows often find weapons, kitchen utensils, jewelry, clothes and so on. And such finds are considered very successful, because the subjects are not so destroyed by time, and they can be used to establish many interesting facts about the life of ancient times. But, unfortunately, such graves are not found often.

Where are they?

Such a method of burial is found all over the globe, even in those parts of the world where the peoples of cultural contacts with the inhabitants of other continents did not support (for example, the Indians of North and South America before Columbus discovered the continent).

Depending on the region, their shape and dimensions may differ slightly, but the overall design is the same. There are quite a few burial mounds in Russia, and archaeologists find them in different areas, but most often they can be found in the steppe regions. So now we know what a mound is, the definition of this word, why they were built. In Russia, their extensive excavations began according to the decree of Peter the Great.

But there are two continents where such artificial structures do not occur, these are Antarctica and Australia. With the first everything is clear, there simply never existed people, but the indigenous inhabitants of Australia buried their fellow tribesmen differently.

What is the mound of glory?

This structure was erected artificially, but it serves not as a grave, but as a memorial to the bloody battles of the mid-20th century.

In 1944, a German group of 105,000 people was surrounded and completely defeated by Soviet troops in Byelorussia. And in 1966 a decree was issued on the construction of a monument to this event. The architects erected a burial mound 35 meters high and installed on it four sterilized bayonets from rifles, they symbolize the 1st, 2nd, 3rd Belorussian and 1st Baltic Front, which participated in the liberation of Belarus from the fascist invaders.

What is a mound in nature?

In fact, any mound is an earthen hill, the height and diameter of it can vary greatly.

Like the tombs of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs, so the barrows used to be looted by looters. There are versions that far from all have survived to this day. True, not all mounds conceal precious stones in their depths, some are earthy hills of natural formation, and the funeral constructions of kings and other rulers, with whom jewels were buried, were rare. Or they were on the ground sacred to people and protected.