Tatarli tumulus

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The Tumulus of Tatarli is a Phrygian burial mound from the Achaemenid period , which formerly housed a completely painted wooden burial chamber. It is located near the village of Tatarlı in the Turkish province of Afyonkarahisar , around 30 km northeast of the ancient city of Kelainai , today Dinar . Parts of the burial chamber are kept in the Afyonkarahisar Archaeological Museum , where they will soon be exhibited in a new museum.

History and exploration

The tumulus and burial chamber date from the early 5th century BC. BC, builder may have been a local ruler in Persian service. Up until Roman times, the grave was re-occupied several times. In 1969 the burial chamber was broken into by looters and badly damaged. Two of the painted beams initially came to Germany, until they were reunited with the remaining parts of the burial chamber in the archaeological museum of Afyonkarahisar in 2009 as part of a German-Turkish research and restoration project. In 2010 the reconstructed burial chamber was shown in an exhibition in Istanbul.

Construction

The barrow stands on a rocky ridge that can be seen from afar and is around 6 m high. The burial chamber was built in block construction from cedar and juniper beams and was accessible through a stone dromos . With the help of a complicated system of surrounding ashlar walls, drainage trenches and multilayered wood, clay and gravel packings, the burial chamber was well protected from the weather until it was salvaged in 1970. The noticeably high-quality woodworking proves the high level of antique carpentry in this region.

painting

Due to the solid construction, large parts of the important paintings have been preserved in the interior of the burial chamber. The gable wall shows depictions of winged bulls, saber dancers and the Geryoneus myth, which was also associated with grave cults elsewhere. On one long wall there were two picture friezes with depictions of Persian soldiers. One of these friezes depicts a battle between the Persians and Scythians , the Persian army is superior. The second frieze is a processional scene in which several foot soldiers and horsemen take part. The detailed reproduction of the martial motifs, costumes, horses, weapons, chariots and other war implements shows that the artist knew the Persian army firsthand. The background is presumably the presence of Achaemenid troops in nearby Kelainai at this time, as described in Herodotus (7, 26-29) .

literature

  • Lâtife Summerer, Alexander von Kienlin (ed.): Tatarlı. Renklerin dönüşü - The Return of Colors. Istanbul 2010
  • Alexander von Kienlin: The wooden burial chamber of Tatarli: A highly developed example of Anatolian log building tradition from the 5th century BC. In: M. Bachmann (Ed.): Structural engineering in ancient and pre-ancient Asia Minor. Byzas 9, Istanbul 2009, pp. 211-224
  • Lâtife Summerer, Alexander von Kienlin: Return of wood painting. , Antike Welt 6/2009, pp. 65–72.
  • Lâtife Summerer, Alexander von Kienlin: Between Destruction and Restoration. A painted wooden burial chamber from the 5th century BC Chr. In Phrygien in: E. Emmerling (ed.), Toccare - Non Toccare. International conference on restoration issues. 07-08 December 2007. ICOMOS. Issues of the German National Committee XLVII (Munich 2009) 33-41.
  • Lâtife Summerer, Alexander von Kienlin: Tatarlı. Une tombe perse retrouvé, Archéologia, N ° 465- Avril 2009, 505-507.
  • Lâtife Summerer, Picturing Persian Victory. The Painted Battle Frieze on the Munich Wood , Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia, 2007, 13, 1-2, 3-30.
  • Lâtife Summerer, Imaging a Tomb Chamber. The Iconographic Program of the Tatarlı-Tomb ”in: A. Zournatzi (Ed.) Ancient Greece- Ancient Iran. Cross-cultural encounters. Proceedings of the International Conference at Athens 11-13. November 2005 (Athens 2008) 265-299.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Harald Schulze: The thriller around the bars of Tatarli, messages from the friends of Bavarian pre- and early history, No. 128 of September 14, 2010
  2. ↑ https://www.ar.tum.de/forschung/projekte/der-tumulus-von-tatarli/ research project at the Technical University of Munich
  3. ↑ Latife Summerer: Picturing Persian Victory. The Painted Battle Frieze on the Munich Wood. Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia (1/2007) 3 - 30