Skip to main content
tumulus

tumulus

1 9.9
A mound of earth and stones made over a grave in ancient times
  • noun
  • /ˈtjuːmələs/
  • Specialized
translation icon : túmulo
  • I have several titles for the book: "They Never Had a Chance" and "Poems of the Doomed" are two of them, but publishers want names, and names are usually what such poets don't have, even the productive ones, buried while they breathed under the tumulus of their own output.

Examples

  • Locust Grove, Rocky Fort Lake, the area around the Great Tumulus of the Serpent?

    Fiction book (1994)
  • Tumulus?

  • Have you ever heard of the word 'tumulus'?

  • Give them river hands and tumulus of belly.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Down they crash to create the tumulus and its chambers.

    Academic text (1999)
  • " It's possible that tombaroli looted the tumulus, as they did with the King's Tomb.

    Academic text (2010)
  • Generally, megalithic tombs were wholly or partially covered by an artificially created tumulus.

    Academic text (2000)
  • Archaeologists discovered a large tumulus that contained ancient artifacts from the burial site.

  • The ancient tumulus served as a memorial for the warriors who fell in battle.

  • Many historical sites feature a tumulus, which marks the resting place of significant figures.

Synonyms

burial mound
vstumulus
4 7.1

A mound of earth or stones built over a grave, often in ancient times

is the archaeological term for that same mound
barrow
vstumulus
  • UK
1 9.5

A large round mound of earth or stones covering an old grave

is similar but applies to mounds of any size over graves
grave mound
vstumulus
  • Specialized
8.8

A heap of earth built over a grave in ancient times

often includes stones as well as earth when covering graves

How Big

tumulus
  • Specialized
1 9.9
cairn
4 7.7
tombstone
52 3.7

Surface Forms

tumulus singular
tumuli plural

Etymology

The word tumulus comes from the Latin root tumere meaning 'to swell', the same root as the English word tumor. So a tumulus is like an earth 'swelling' built over a grave.