Burial chamber

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A burial chamber is a burial place for one or more dead. Family burial chambers are also called crypts . In most cultures, burial chambers are found in higher social classes. They are typical of cultures that believed in life after death and that provided the dead with rich grave goods .

prehistory

The rock tombs and megalithic chambers of the Neolithic Age ( dolmens etc.) are to be regarded as the oldest burial chambers , followed by the Bronze Age .

Shapes of the burial chamber

Lycian burial chamber ( rock tomb ) in Kaş

The following shapes can be roughly distinguished:

catacomb

In catacombs , burial chambers are referred to as cubiculum , based on the usually very simply furnished bedroom of an ancient Roman house with a lounger . Catacombs have been created since the beginning of the 3rd century.

Cultures

Old Egypt

Burial chamber of the Unas pyramid

Since the Naqada culture (approx. 3500 BC), the dead in ancient Egypt are not only buried in the ground, but also buried in chambers in the case of high-ranking people. These were mostly pits in the earth that were plastered with clay. The roof was made of wooden beams. From the 2nd dynasty onwards , burial chambers are carved into the rock and can be reached via a shaft or stairs. Burial chambers are rarely decorated in ancient Egypt. The decoration was mostly in the cult rooms above the burial chambers. Exceptions are the pyramids at the end of the Old Kingdom , which are provided with texts or funerary sayings and some burial chambers of high officials of this time, which show long lists of offerings. In the New Kingdom (approx. 1500–1100 BC) the burial chambers of queens and kings are painted, those of officials remain undecorated with a few exceptions.

In a pyramid, the burial chamber is the place where the dead were buried. There were often several chambers in a pyramid, but not all of them were occupied. In some pyramids there were even three burial chambers, each facing a different direction. The sarcophagus stood in the center of the burial chamber . The entrances to the burial chambers usually run at a steep angle upwards or downwards, to a level below the pyramid. But there are also corridors parallel to the ground. Many graves were mostly laid out like a labyrinth and provided with many traps to keep away or deter grave robbers . The treasures or grave goods were kept in an antechamber to prepare the dead on their way through the realm of the dead . The corridors to the burial chambers were mostly secured by heavy granite blocks.

There are far more burial chambers in the Valley of the Kings and in the Valley of the Queens near Thebes-West on the Nile . The entrances, side rooms and burial chambers themselves are often decorated with excerpts from the Egyptian Book of the Dead .

Etruscan

Tomba dei Leopardi

The Etruscans practiced the most elaborate cult of the dead from the ancient peoples . Correspondingly, burials in burial chambers were widespread here, with multiple burials apparently being the rule. The burial chambers were therefore accessible for a certain time. Particularly elaborate burial chambers are richly decorated with paintings, many graves such as the Tomba dei Leopardi were found in the necropolises of Monterozzi near Tarquinia and Banditaccia near Caere (Cerveteri).

Mesopotamia

No lavish cult of the dead was practiced in Mesopotamia . Burials were the norm. The royal tombs of Ur exist from Sumerian times . Here kings and queens are buried in tombs made of bricks. In the period that followed, burial chambers seem to be found almost exclusively with rulers. In the case of the Parthians (approx. 250 BC - 224 AD) family tombs are attested that were built below the floors, at cellar level in the houses. Here, too, this custom seems to have been limited to a socially high level.

literature

  • Dieter Arnold : Lexicon of Egyptian architecture. Artemis & Winkler, Zurich 1997, ISBN 3760810993 .
  • Der Brockhaus, Archeology: Archeology - high cultures, excavation sites, finds. Brockhaus, Mannheim / Leipzig 2009, ISBN 9783765333217 .
  • Elmar Edel : The rock tomb necropolis of Qubbet el Hawa near Aswan. Department 1. / written from the estate and edited by Karl-J. Seyfried and Gerd Vieler Volume 1: Architecture, representations, texts, archaeological findings and finds from the graves QH 24 - QH 34p. Schöningh, Paderborn 2008, ISBN 978-3-506-76343-3 .
  • Hans Kayser : The Mastaba of Uhemka - A grave in the desert. Torchbearers, Hanover 1964.
  • Nicholas Reeves , Richard H. Wilkinson: The Valley of the Kings. Weltbild, Augsburg 2000, ISBN 3828907393 .
  • Alberto Siliotti: Valley of the Kings: the most famous necropolis in the world. Müller, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-89893-560-4 .

Web links

Wiktionary: burial chamber  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Brockhaus: Archeology - high cultures, excavation sites, finds. P. 326f. → catacomb.
  2. See also: Communication from the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo No. 38 p. 219.
  3. ^ Dieter Arnold: Lexicon of Egyptian architecture. P. 77–80 → rock grave, → rock grave excavation.
  4. ^ Dieter Arnold: Lexicon of Egyptian architecture. Pp. 199–202 → Pyramid.
  5. Alberto Siliotti: Valley of the Kings.
  6. ^ Brockhaus: Archeology - high cultures, excavation sites, finds. Pp. 185–189 → Etruscan culture.
  7. ^ Brockhaus: Archeology - high cultures, excavation sites, finds. Pp. 577–580 → Sumerian culture, art.
  8. Brockhaus: Archeology - high cultures, excavation sites, finds , p. 467 → Parthian art, sentence 1.