The Spatial Distribution and Location of Bronze Age Tumuli in Greece

Funerary tumuli are widespread in Bronze Age Greece. They do not form a homogeneous group but present different morphological characteristics depending on environmental conditions, the deceased’s social class, and their date. Tumuli first appeared in the Early Bronze Age in limited numbers and in western Greece only but subsequently spread to central and southern Greece during the Middle and Late Bronze Age. By the end of the Bronze Age, they occurred only in northern Greece. The placement of tumuli within a landscape does not follow strict rules. Although hilltops are favoured, some tumuli are placed on slopes or plains. They usually occupy an exceptional site near the coast or, inland, near a water source. They can be isolated or within cemeteries, together with cist graves, shaft graves and jar burials. Several are located close to a settlement but a direct link between these two features has not yet been established. All of the above elements were used to establish a database, the thematic layers of which we are currently processing using GIS technology in order to analyze the spatial distribution of tumuli.Merkouri Christina, Kouli Maria. The Spatial Distribution and Location of Bronze Age Tumuli in Greece. In: Ancestral Landscape. Burial mounds in the Copper and Bronze Ages (Central and Eastern Europe – Balkans – Adriatic – Aegean, 4th-2nd millennium B.C.) Proceedings of the International Conference held in Udine, May 15th-18th 2008. Lyon : Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée Jean Pouilloux, 2012. pp. 203-217. (Travaux de la Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée. Série recherches archéologiques, 58