Difference between revisions of "Necropolis" - New World Encyclopedia

From New World Encyclopedia
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[[Category:Politics and social sciences]]
 
[[Category:Politics and social sciences]]
 
[[Category:Anthropology]]
 
[[Category:Anthropology]]
 
  
 
[[Image:Banditaccia1.jpg|thumb|250px|View of the [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] necropolis of Banditaccia, in [[Cerveteri]], Italy.]]
 
[[Image:Banditaccia1.jpg|thumb|250px|View of the [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] necropolis of Banditaccia, in [[Cerveteri]], Italy.]]
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[[Image:Stećak.jpg|thumb|250px|Radimlja necropolis of ''stećak'' in [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]]]]
 
[[Image:Stećak.jpg|thumb|250px|Radimlja necropolis of ''stećak'' in [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]]]]
 
[[Image:Chaukundi1.JPG|thumb|250px|[[Chaukundi]] necropolis near [[Karachi]], [[Pakistan]]]]
 
[[Image:Chaukundi1.JPG|thumb|250px|[[Chaukundi]] necropolis near [[Karachi]], [[Pakistan]]]]
A '''necropolis''' (plural: ''necropolises'' or ''necropoleis'') is a large [[cemetery]] or burial place (from [[Greek language|Greek]] ''nekropolis'' "city of the dead"). Apart from the occasional application of the word to modern cemeteries outside large towns, the term is chiefly used of burial grounds near the sites of the centers of ancient civilizations.
+
A '''necropolis''' (plural: ''necropolises'' or ''necropoleis'') is a large [[cemetery]] or burial place. Apart from the occasional application of the word to modern cemeteries outside large towns, the term is chiefly used of burial grounds near the sites of the centers of ancient civilizations.
 +
 
 +
==Etymology==
 +
 
 +
The word comes from [[Greek language|Greek]] ''nekropolis'' "city of the dead".  
  
 
==History and purpose==
 
==History and purpose==
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==Examples of necropoleis==
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==World Necropoleis==
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The following is a selection of famous necropoleis, grouped by continent and country, from around the world.
  
 +
===[[Europe]]===
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====[[Austria]]====
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[[Image:Burgstallkogel Sulm valley.jpg|thumb|200px|The Burgstallkogel from the West, as seen from the Georgenberg]]
  
===Austria===
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The '''Burgstallkogel''' (also known as '''Grillkogel''') is situated near the confluence of the [[Sulm (Austrian river)|Sulm]] and the Saggau river valleys in Southern [[Styria]], about 30 km south of [[Graz]] between  [[Gleinstätten]] and Kleinklein. The hill hosted a significant settlement of trans-regional importance from 800 B.C.E. to about 600 B.C.E. Surrounding the hill is one of the largest [[iron age]] hill grave [[necropolis|necropolises]], originally composed of at least 2,000 [[tumulus|tumuli]], that exists in continental Europe.  
*Burgstallkogel (Sulm valley)|Sulm valley necropolis
 
The '''Burgstallkogel''' (458 m; also known as '''Grillkogel''') is situated near the confluence of the [[Sulm (Austrian river)|Sulm]] and the Saggau river valleys in Southern [[Styria]], about 30 km south of [[Graz]] between  [[Gleinstätten]] and Kleinklein. The hill hosted a significant settlement of trans-regional importance from 800 B.C.E. to about 600 B.C.E. Surrounding the hill is one of the largest [[iron age]] hill grave [[necropolis|necropolises]], originally composed of at least 2,000 [[tumuli]], that exists in continental Europe.
 
[[Image:Burgstallkogel settlement and necropolis.png|thumb|500 px|center|Situation sketch of the Burgstallkogel settlement and its associated necropolis]]
 
[[Image:Burgstallkogel Sulm valley.jpg|thumb|right|350px|The Burgstallkogel from the West, as seen from the Georgenberg]]
 
  
The Burgstallkogel is prominently situated on a hill ridge that runs from east to west, straddling the southern banks of the [[Sulm (Austrian river)|Sulm valley]], on a trade route that crossed the [[Koralpe]] mountain range from [[Carinthia]], connecting to the southern parts of the basin of [[Graz]] and onward to the Hungarian plains. The settlement apparently controlled long-distance trade along this route, which had been in use since [[neolithic]] times, and prospered from it. The community exchanged goods far into Italy and into the Balkans, and might have exploited the iron ore deposits that exist on the hill.
+
The hill the Burgstallkogel is prominently situated on runs from east to west, straddling the southern banks of the [[Sulm (Austrian river)|Sulm valley]], on a trade route that crossed the [[Koralpe]] mountain range from [[Carinthia]], connecting to the southern parts of the basin of [[Graz]] and onward to the Hungarian plains. The settlement apparently controlled long-distance trade along this route, which had been in use since [[neolithic]] times, and prospered from it. The community exchanged goods far into Italy and into the Balkans, and might have exploited the iron ore deposits that exist on the hill. The discovery of the necropolis provided [[archaeology|archaeologists]] with a wealth of information regarding the ancient trade route.<ref> Pydyn, A. "Exchange and cultural interactions: a study of long-distance trade and cross-cultural contacts in the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age in Central and Eastern Europe."( Archaeopress; 1999) ISBN 1841710261</ref>
  
 
+
====[[Bulgaria]]====
===Bulgaria===
 
 
The '''Varna Necropolis'''  is a burial site in the western industrial zone of [[Varna]] (approximately half a kilometre from [[Lake Varna]] and 4 km from the city centre), [[Bulgaria]], internationally considered one of the key sites in world prehistory.  
 
The '''Varna Necropolis'''  is a burial site in the western industrial zone of [[Varna]] (approximately half a kilometre from [[Lake Varna]] and 4 km from the city centre), [[Bulgaria]], internationally considered one of the key sites in world prehistory.  
 
[[Image:Or de Varna - Nécropole.jpg|thumb|A burial at Varna, with some of the world's oldest gold jewelry]]
 
[[Image:Or de Varna - Nécropole.jpg|thumb|A burial at Varna, with some of the world's oldest gold jewelry]]
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294 graves have been found in the necropolis, many containing sophisticated examples of [[metallurgy]] (gold and copper), [[pottery]] (about 600 pieces, including gold-painted ones), high-quality flint and obsidian blades, beads, and shells.
 
294 graves have been found in the necropolis, many containing sophisticated examples of [[metallurgy]] (gold and copper), [[pottery]] (about 600 pieces, including gold-painted ones), high-quality flint and obsidian blades, beads, and shells.
 
  
 
The graves have been dated  to 4600-4200 B.C.E. ([[radiocarbon dating]], 2004) and belong to the  [[Eneolithic]] [[Varna culture]], which is the local variant of the KGKIV.
 
The graves have been dated  to 4600-4200 B.C.E. ([[radiocarbon dating]], 2004) and belong to the  [[Eneolithic]] [[Varna culture]], which is the local variant of the KGKIV.
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The culture had sophisticated religious beliefs about afterlife and developed hierarchal status differences: it offers the oldest known burial evidence of an elite male (the end of the fifth millennium B.C.E. is the time that [[Marija Gimbutas]] claims the transition to male dominance began in Europe). The high status male buried with the most remarkable amount of gold held a war adze or mace and wore a gold penis sheath. The bull-shaped gold platelets [http://www.omda.bg/images_more/varna_necropolis_applique_object_gold.jpg (photo)] perhaps also venerated virility, instinctional force, and warfare. Gimbutas holds that the artifacts were made largely by local craftspeople.
 
The culture had sophisticated religious beliefs about afterlife and developed hierarchal status differences: it offers the oldest known burial evidence of an elite male (the end of the fifth millennium B.C.E. is the time that [[Marija Gimbutas]] claims the transition to male dominance began in Europe). The high status male buried with the most remarkable amount of gold held a war adze or mace and wore a gold penis sheath. The bull-shaped gold platelets [http://www.omda.bg/images_more/varna_necropolis_applique_object_gold.jpg (photo)] perhaps also venerated virility, instinctional force, and warfare. Gimbutas holds that the artifacts were made largely by local craftspeople.
 
  
 
According to M. Gimbutas (1991), "The discontinuity of the [[Varna culture|Varna]], [[Karanovo culture|Karanovo]], [[Vinča culture|Vinča]] and [[Lengyel culture|Lengyel]] cultures in their main territories and the large scale population shifts to the north and northwest are indirect evidence of a catastrophe of such proportions that cannot be explained by possible climatic change, land exhaustion, or epidemics (for which there is no evidence in the second half of the 5th millennium B.C.E.). Direct evidence of the incursion of horse-riding warriors is found, not only in single burials of males under barrows, but in the emergence of a whole complex of [[Kurgan]] cultural traits."
 
According to M. Gimbutas (1991), "The discontinuity of the [[Varna culture|Varna]], [[Karanovo culture|Karanovo]], [[Vinča culture|Vinča]] and [[Lengyel culture|Lengyel]] cultures in their main territories and the large scale population shifts to the north and northwest are indirect evidence of a catastrophe of such proportions that cannot be explained by possible climatic change, land exhaustion, or epidemics (for which there is no evidence in the second half of the 5th millennium B.C.E.). Direct evidence of the incursion of horse-riding warriors is found, not only in single burials of males under barrows, but in the emergence of a whole complex of [[Kurgan]] cultural traits."
 
   
 
   
 
According to J. Chapman ([http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prehistoric/reviews/05_02_govedarica.htm 2005]), "Once upon a time, not so very long ago, it was widely accepted that steppe nomads from the North Pontic zone invaded the Balkans, putting an end to the Climax Copper Age society that produced the apogee of tell living, autonomous copper metallurgy and, as the grandest climax, the Varna cemetery with its stunning early goldwork. Now the boot is very much on the other foot and it is the Varna complex and its associated communities that are held responsible for stimulating the onset of prestige goods-dominated steppe mortuary practice following the expansion of farming."
 
According to J. Chapman ([http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prehistoric/reviews/05_02_govedarica.htm 2005]), "Once upon a time, not so very long ago, it was widely accepted that steppe nomads from the North Pontic zone invaded the Balkans, putting an end to the Climax Copper Age society that produced the apogee of tell living, autonomous copper metallurgy and, as the grandest climax, the Varna cemetery with its stunning early goldwork. Now the boot is very much on the other foot and it is the Varna complex and its associated communities that are held responsible for stimulating the onset of prestige goods-dominated steppe mortuary practice following the expansion of farming."
 
  
 
The artifacts can be seen at the [[Varna Archaeological Museum]] and at the [[National Historical Museum (Bulgaria)|National Historical Museum]] in Sofia. In 2006, some gold objects were included in a major and broadly advertised national exhibition of antique gold treasures in both Sofia and Varna.  
 
The artifacts can be seen at the [[Varna Archaeological Museum]] and at the [[National Historical Museum (Bulgaria)|National Historical Museum]] in Sofia. In 2006, some gold objects were included in a major and broadly advertised national exhibition of antique gold treasures in both Sofia and Varna.  
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The gold of Varna started touring the world in 1973; it was included in "The Gold of the Thracian Horseman" national exhibition, shown at many of the world's leading museums and exhibition venues in the 1970's. In 1982, it was exhibited for 7 months in Japan as "The Oldest Gold in the World - The First European Civilization" with massive publicity, including two full length TV documentaries. In the 1980s and 1990s it was also shown in Canada, Germany, France, Italy, and Israel, among others, and featured in a cover story by the [[National Geographic Magazine]].
 
The gold of Varna started touring the world in 1973; it was included in "The Gold of the Thracian Horseman" national exhibition, shown at many of the world's leading museums and exhibition venues in the 1970's. In 1982, it was exhibited for 7 months in Japan as "The Oldest Gold in the World - The First European Civilization" with massive publicity, including two full length TV documentaries. In the 1980s and 1990s it was also shown in Canada, Germany, France, Italy, and Israel, among others, and featured in a cover story by the [[National Geographic Magazine]].
  
 
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====[[France]]====
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
===China===
 
* [[Terracotta_Army| Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor]]
 
* [[Ming Dynasty Tombs]]
 
 
 
 
 
===Cuba===
 
 
 
[[Image:Necropolis de San Carlos Borromeo 2007.jpg|thumb|right|Necropolis de San Carlos Borromeo in August 2007]]
 
'''Necropolis de San Carlos Borromeo''' aka '''Cementerio de San Carlos''' or '''San Carlos Cemetery''' is located in [[Matanzas]], [[Cuba]].  It was inaugurated on September 2, 1872 on 13.5 hectacres.  The U.S. Congressman [[Joseph Marion Hernandez]] is interred there in the [[del Junco]] family crypt.
 
 
 
 
 
===Egypt===
 
 
 
* [[Great Pyramid of Giza]]
 
 
 
* [[Saqqara]]
 
 
 
===France===
 
 
[[Image:Alyscamps.jpg|right|280px|thumb|The Alyscamps, Arles, France]]
 
[[Image:Alyscamps.jpg|right|280px|thumb|The Alyscamps, Arles, France]]
 
The '''Alyscamps''' is a large [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] [[necropolis]], which is a short distance outside the walls of the old town of [[Arles]], [[France]]. It was one of the most famous necropolises of the ancient world. The name is a corruption of the [[Latin]] ''Elisii Campi'' (that is, [[Champs-Élysées]] or [[Elysium|Elysian Fields]]).  They were famous in the [[Middle Ages]] and are referred to by [[Ludovico Ariosto|Ariosto]] in ''[[Orlando Furioso]]'' and by [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]] in the ''[[The Divine Comedy#Inferno|Inferno]].''<ref>Lawrence Durrell, ''Caesar's Vast Ghost,''Faber and Faber, 1990; paperback with corrections 1995; ISBN 0-571-21427-4; see page 98 in the reset edition of 2002</ref>
 
The '''Alyscamps''' is a large [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] [[necropolis]], which is a short distance outside the walls of the old town of [[Arles]], [[France]]. It was one of the most famous necropolises of the ancient world. The name is a corruption of the [[Latin]] ''Elisii Campi'' (that is, [[Champs-Élysées]] or [[Elysium|Elysian Fields]]).  They were famous in the [[Middle Ages]] and are referred to by [[Ludovico Ariosto|Ariosto]] in ''[[Orlando Furioso]]'' and by [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]] in the ''[[The Divine Comedy#Inferno|Inferno]].''<ref>Lawrence Durrell, ''Caesar's Vast Ghost,''Faber and Faber, 1990; paperback with corrections 1995; ISBN 0-571-21427-4; see page 98 in the reset edition of 2002</ref>
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The better of the remaining sarcophagi are now on display in the [[Museum of Ancient Arles]], which has one of the best collections of Roman sarcophagi to be found anywhere outside Rome itself.
 
The better of the remaining sarcophagi are now on display in the [[Museum of Ancient Arles]], which has one of the best collections of Roman sarcophagi to be found anywhere outside Rome itself.
 
 
 
<gallery>
 
Image:Paul gauguin alyscamps.jpg|''Les Alyscamps'', [[Paul Gauguin]], 1888
 
Image:Alyscamps van gogh.jpg|''[[Les Alyscamps, Falling Autumn Leaves]]'', [[Vincent van Gogh]], 1888
 
Image:Van gogh alyscamps other.jpg|''Les Alyscamps'' one of a pair of paintings, [[Vincent van Gogh]], 1888
 
</gallery>
 
 
 
 
 
 
===Israel===
 
[[Image:Cave of coffins.jpg|250px|right|thumb|Entrance of the Cave of Coffins, in the Bet She'arim National Park.]]
 
'''Beit She'arim ''' ({{lang-he|בית שערים}}) is the archeological site of a town and a [[necropolis]] on the southern foothills of [[The Lower Galilee]]. Most of the remains date from the 2nd to 4th Century CE. The inscriptions in the catacombs reveal that the necropolis was of Jewish importance.
 
 
The site was first discovered by accident in 1936 by [[Alexander Zeid]] who stayed in the area while watching over the lands of the [[Jewish National Fund]].
 
 
 
  
 
===Italy===
 
===Italy===
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Most finds excavated at Cerveteri necropolis are currently housed in the [[National Etruscan Museum]], [[Rome]]. Others are in the Archaeological Museum at Cerveteri itself.
 
Most finds excavated at Cerveteri necropolis are currently housed in the [[National Etruscan Museum]], [[Rome]]. Others are in the Archaeological Museum at Cerveteri itself.
  
 
 
 
*Pantalica
 
*Pantalica
 
The '''Necropolis of Pantalica''' is a large [[necropolis]] in [[Sicily]] with about 5000 tombs dating from the 13th to the 7th centuries B.C.E.
 
The '''Necropolis of Pantalica''' is a large [[necropolis]] in [[Sicily]] with about 5000 tombs dating from the 13th to the 7th centuries B.C.E.
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Together with the city of [[Syracuse, Italy|Syracuse]], Pantalica is listed as "Syracuse and the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica" on the list of [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]]s.
 
Together with the city of [[Syracuse, Italy|Syracuse]], Pantalica is listed as "Syracuse and the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica" on the list of [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]]s.
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====Russia====
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* Kremlin Wall Necropolis
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[[Image:Russia-Moscow-Graves near and in Kremlin Wall.jpg|thumb|320px|Kremlin Wall Necropolis]]
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The '''Kremlin Wall Necropolis''' ([[Russian language|Russian]]: ''Некрополь у Кремлёвской стены'') is a part of the [[Kremlin Wall]], which surrounds the [[Moscow Kremlin]] and overlooks [[Red Square]].  [[Soviet]] governments buried many prominent local and international [[Communist]] figures here.
 +
 +
The first burial in the Red Square was performed on November 10, 1917 by the order of the [[Military Revolutionary Committee]]. The Soviets buried 238 [[Red Guards (Russia)|Red Guards]] and soldiers who had died during the [[October Revolution]] in two common graves. In the autumn of 1919 they buried the secretary of the [[Moscow Committee of the Bolshevik Party]], [[Vladimir Zagorsky]], and a few other victims of a [[terrorist act]] performed by the [[Left Socialist-Revolutionaries]] on September 25.
 +
 +
The victims of an explosion in the building of the [[Dorogomilovsky Soviet]], [[Government of the Soviet Union|People's Commissar of the Postal Service and Telegraph]] [[Vadim Podbelsky]], American journalist [[John Reed (journalist)|John Reed]], secretary of the Moscow Committee [[Feodor Artyom]], diplomats [[Vaclav Vorovsky]] and [[Peter Voikov]] and others were also buried in the necropolis.
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 +
In 1924, [[Lenin's Mausoleum]] became the center of the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. Behind the mausoleum and at the foot of the [[Kremlin towers|Senatskaya Tower]] of the Kremlin, there are the graves of [[Yakov Sverdlov]], [[Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky|Felix Dzerzhinsky]], [[Mikhail Frunze]], [[Mikhail Kalinin]], [[Georgy Zhukov]], [[Andrei Zhdanov]], [[Joseph Stalin]], [[Kliment Voroshilov]], [[Semyon Budyonny]], [[Mikhail Suslov]], [[Leonid Brezhnev]], [[Yuri Andropov]] and [[Konstantin Chernenko]], with monuments. On both sides of the Senatskaya Tower, the Soviets placed urns with the ashes of [[CPSU]] members and members of foreign [[Communist]] parties, statesmen, military and political leaders, prominent people of science and culture between 1925 and 1984. Several [[cosmonaut]]s, including [[Yuri Gagarin]] and the victims of the [[Soyuz 1]] and [[Soyuz 11]] disasters, are buried in the necropolis, as well as [[Sergei Korolev]], chief designer of the [[Soviet space program]].
 +
 +
In 1967, the Soviets opened a [[memorial]] called the [[Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Moscow)|Tomb of the Unknown Soldier]] at the Kremlin Wall in the [[Alexander Garden (park)|Alexander Garden]].
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 +
====Vatican City====
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 +
In 2003, workers excavating for a parking garage discovered a necropolis in [[Vatican City]]. Once it was discovered, work on the parking garage stopped and efforts to restore the site started. As of October 9, 2006, it is now open to the public. Visitors can use a catwalk to view the necropolis from a building built over the ruins.<ref>{{cite news
 +
  | last = D'Emilio
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  | first = Frances
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  | title = Newly unveiled necropolis at Vatican
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  | publisher = Associated Press via MSNBC
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  | date = 2006-10-09
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  | url = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15198192/
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  | accessdate = 2007-03-27 }}</ref>
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<ref>{{cite news
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  | last = McMahon
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  | first = Barbara
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  | title = Ancient Roman treasures found under Vatican car park
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  | publisher = The Guardian
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  | date = 2006-10-10
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  | url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1891559,00.html
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  | accessdate = 2007-03-27 }}</ref>
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 +
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===Middle East and Africa===
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 +
===Egypt===
 +
 +
* [[Great Pyramid of Giza]]
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 +
* [[Saqqara]]
 +
 +
 +
===Israel===
 +
[[Image:Cave of coffins.jpg|250px|right|thumb|Entrance of the Cave of Coffins, in the Bet She'arim National Park.]]
 +
'''Beit She'arim ''' ({{lang-he|בית שערים}}) is the archeological site of a town and a [[necropolis]] on the southern foothills of [[The Lower Galilee]]. Most of the remains date from the 2nd to 4th Century CE. The inscriptions in the catacombs reveal that the necropolis was of Jewish importance.
 +
 +
The site was first discovered by accident in 1936 by [[Alexander Zeid]] who stayed in the area while watching over the lands of the [[Jewish National Fund]].
 +
  
  
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The site has been converted to a garden and is now a tourist attraction.   
 
The site has been converted to a garden and is now a tourist attraction.   
  
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====Turkey====
 +
'''Termessos''': A Pisidian city situated high on a mountain with remnants of an agora, theatre and an odion. It has a reputation of being the most magnificent necropolis on the Mediterranean, 35 km northwest of Antalya.
  
 +
'''Hierapolis''' is a [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]]. As the hot springs of [[Pamukkale]] were used as a spa since the 2nd century B.C.E., people came to soothe their ailings here. Many of them retired and died here. The large [[necropolis]] is filled with [[sarcophagus|sarcophagi]].
  
  
 +
All types of tombs from Hellenic to Christian times can be seen at the necropolis in Hierapolis. People who came for medical treatment to Hierapolis in ancient times and the native people of the city buried their dead in monumental [[tombs]] of the tumulus, [[sarcophagus]] or house types according to their traditions. The necropolis extends from the Northern to the Eastern and Southern sections of the old city. Most of the tombs have been excavated. The St. Philip Martyrium was constructed in the name of [[Philip the Apostle|St. Philip]], one of Christ’s twelve disciples, outside the Northeastern section of the city walls, and has an octagonal structure. It is said that St. Philip is buried in the center of the building.
  
===Pakistan===
+
===Asia===
 +
 
 +
====China====
 +
* [[Terracotta_Army| Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor]]
 +
* [[Ming Dynasty Tombs]]
 +
 
 +
====Pakistan====
  
 
[[Image:Tomb_1_Thatta.jpg|right|thumb|200px|A tomb at Makli Hills necropolis built in 1559]]
 
[[Image:Tomb_1_Thatta.jpg|right|thumb|200px|A tomb at Makli Hills necropolis built in 1559]]
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[[Image:Makli1.JPG|thumb|left|200px|Sketch plan of the necropolis as stated by information point. Please enlarge to read the English text]]
 
[[Image:Makli1.JPG|thumb|left|200px|Sketch plan of the necropolis as stated by information point. Please enlarge to read the English text]]
  
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===The Americas===
  
 +
====Cuba====
  
 +
[[Image:Necropolis de San Carlos Borromeo 2007.jpg|thumb|right|Necropolis de San Carlos Borromeo in August 2007]]
 +
'''Necropolis de San Carlos Borromeo''' aka '''Cementerio de San Carlos''' or '''San Carlos Cemetery''' is located in [[Matanzas]], [[Cuba]].  It was inaugurated on September 2, 1872 on 13.5 hectacres.  The U.S. Congressman [[Joseph Marion Hernandez]] is interred there in the [[del Junco]] family crypt.
  
 
+
====Peru====
 
 
 
 
===Peru===
 
 
The '''Paracas culture''' was an important [[Andean]] society between approximately 750 B.C.E. and 100 C.E. that developed in the [[Paracas Peninsula]], located in what today is the [[Paracas District]] of the [[Pisco Province]] in the [[Ica Region]]. Most of our information about the lives of the Paracas people comes from excavations at the large seaside Paracas [[necropolis]], first investigated by the Peruvian archaeologist [[Julio Tello]] in the 1920s.  
 
The '''Paracas culture''' was an important [[Andean]] society between approximately 750 B.C.E. and 100 C.E. that developed in the [[Paracas Peninsula]], located in what today is the [[Paracas District]] of the [[Pisco Province]] in the [[Ica Region]]. Most of our information about the lives of the Paracas people comes from excavations at the large seaside Paracas [[necropolis]], first investigated by the Peruvian archaeologist [[Julio Tello]] in the 1920s.  
  
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They had extensive knowledge of irrigation and water management.
 
They had extensive knowledge of irrigation and water management.
  
===Russia===
+
====United States====
* Kremlin Wall Necropolis
 
[[Image:Russia-Moscow-Graves near and in Kremlin Wall.jpg|thumb|320px|Kremlin Wall Necropolis]]
 
 
 
The '''Kremlin Wall Necropolis''' ([[Russian language|Russian]]: ''Некрополь у Кремлёвской стены'') is a part of the [[Kremlin Wall]], which surrounds the [[Moscow Kremlin]] and overlooks [[Red Square]].  [[Soviet]] governments buried many prominent local and international [[Communist]] figures here.
 
 
 
The first burial in the Red Square was performed on November 10, 1917 by the order of the [[Military Revolutionary Committee]]. The Soviets buried 238 [[Red Guards (Russia)|Red Guards]] and soldiers who had died during the [[October Revolution]] in two common graves. In the autumn of 1919 they buried the secretary of the [[Moscow Committee of the Bolshevik Party]], [[Vladimir Zagorsky]], and a few other victims of a [[terrorist act]] performed by the [[Left Socialist-Revolutionaries]] on September 25.
 
 
 
The victims of an explosion in the building of the [[Dorogomilovsky Soviet]], [[Government of the Soviet Union|People's Commissar of the Postal Service and Telegraph]] [[Vadim Podbelsky]], American journalist [[John Reed (journalist)|John Reed]], secretary of the Moscow Committee [[Feodor Artyom]], diplomats [[Vaclav Vorovsky]] and [[Peter Voikov]] and others were also buried in the necropolis.
 
 
 
In 1924, [[Lenin's Mausoleum]] became the center of the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. Behind the mausoleum and at the foot of the [[Kremlin towers|Senatskaya Tower]] of the Kremlin, there are the graves of [[Yakov Sverdlov]], [[Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky|Felix Dzerzhinsky]], [[Mikhail Frunze]], [[Mikhail Kalinin]], [[Georgy Zhukov]], [[Andrei Zhdanov]], [[Joseph Stalin]], [[Kliment Voroshilov]], [[Semyon Budyonny]], [[Mikhail Suslov]], [[Leonid Brezhnev]], [[Yuri Andropov]] and [[Konstantin Chernenko]], with monuments. On both sides of the Senatskaya Tower, the Soviets placed urns with the ashes of [[CPSU]] members and members of foreign [[Communist]] parties, statesmen, military and political leaders, prominent people of science and culture between 1925 and 1984. Several [[cosmonaut]]s, including [[Yuri Gagarin]] and the victims of the [[Soyuz 1]] and [[Soyuz 11]] disasters, are buried in the necropolis, as well as [[Sergei Korolev]], chief designer of the [[Soviet space program]].
 
 
In 1967, the Soviets opened a [[memorial]] called the [[Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Moscow)|Tomb of the Unknown Soldier]] at the Kremlin Wall in the [[Alexander Garden (park)|Alexander Garden]].
 
 
 
Individual tombstones
 
*''from left to right''
 
# [[Konstantin Chernenko]]
 
# [[Semyon Budyonny]]
 
# [[Kliment Voroshilov]]
 
# [[Andrei Zhdanov]]
 
# [[Mikhail Frunze]]
 
# [[Yakov Sverdlov]]
 
# [[Leonid Brezhnev]]
 
# [[Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky|Felix Dzerzhinsky]]
 
# [[Yuri Andropov]]
 
# [[Mikhail Kalinin]]
 
# [[Joseph Stalin]]
 
# [[Mikhail Suslov]]
 
 
 
 
 
===Turkey===
 
'''Termessos''': A Pisidian city situated high on a mountain with remnants of an agora, theatre and an odion. It has a reputation of being the most magnificent necropolis on the Mediterranean, 35 km northwest of Antalya.
 
 
 
'''Hierapolis''' is a [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]]. As the hot springs of [[Pamukkale]] were used as a spa since the 2nd century B.C.E., people came to soothe their ailings here. Many of them retired and died here. The large [[necropolis]] is filled with [[sarcophagus|sarcophagi]].
 
 
 
 
 
All types of tombs from Hellenic to Christian times can be seen at the necropolis in Hierapolis. People who came for medical treatment to Hierapolis in ancient times and the native people of the city buried their dead in monumental [[tombs]] of the tumulus, [[sarcophagus]] or house types according to their traditions. The necropolis extends from the Northern to the Eastern and Southern sections of the old city. Most of the tombs have been excavated. The St. Philip Martyrium was constructed in the name of [[Philip the Apostle|St. Philip]], one of Christ’s twelve disciples, outside the Northeastern section of the city walls, and has an octagonal structure. It is said that St. Philip is buried in the center of the building.
 
 
 
===United States===
 
 
'''Colma''' is a small incorporated town in [[San Mateo County, California]], at the northern end of the [[San Francisco Peninsula]] in the [[San Francisco Bay Area]]. The population was 1,191 at the 2000 census. The town was founded as a [[necropolis]] in 1924.<ref>{{cite news  
 
'''Colma''' is a small incorporated town in [[San Mateo County, California]], at the northern end of the [[San Francisco Peninsula]] in the [[San Francisco Bay Area]]. The population was 1,191 at the 2000 census. The town was founded as a [[necropolis]] in 1924.<ref>{{cite news  
 
  | first = Carol | last = Pogash
 
  | first = Carol | last = Pogash
Line 238: Line 214:
  
 
Much of the land of Colma is dedicated to [[cemetery]] usage. With 17 cemeteries for the interment of humans and one for pets, the dead population outnumber the living by thousands to one. This has led to it being called "the city of the silent," and also led to a more humorous motto among some residents: "It's good to be alive in Colma".{{ref label|NYT20061203|Pogash|b}}  
 
Much of the land of Colma is dedicated to [[cemetery]] usage. With 17 cemeteries for the interment of humans and one for pets, the dead population outnumber the living by thousands to one. This has led to it being called "the city of the silent," and also led to a more humorous motto among some residents: "It's good to be alive in Colma".{{ref label|NYT20061203|Pogash|b}}  
 
  
 
Colma became the location of a large number of cemeteries when [[San Francisco]], the town's powerful neighbor to the north, passed an ordinance in 1900 outlawing the construction of any more cemeteries in the city (mainly because of increased property values making the cost of using land for cemeteries prohibitive), and then passed another ordinance in 1912 evicting all existing cemeteries from city limits. (A similar scenario prevails in [[New York City]]'s borough of [[Manhattan]], where only one active cemetery still exists &mdash; the [[Trinity Church, New York|Trinity Church]] Cemetery and Crematory, at the intersection of 155th Street and Broadway, on the northwestern edge of [[Harlem, New York|Harlem]]). The relocation of cemeteries from San Francisco to Colma is the subject of ''A Second Final Rest: The History of San Francisco's Lost Cemeteries,'' (2005) a documentary by Trina Lopez.
 
Colma became the location of a large number of cemeteries when [[San Francisco]], the town's powerful neighbor to the north, passed an ordinance in 1900 outlawing the construction of any more cemeteries in the city (mainly because of increased property values making the cost of using land for cemeteries prohibitive), and then passed another ordinance in 1912 evicting all existing cemeteries from city limits. (A similar scenario prevails in [[New York City]]'s borough of [[Manhattan]], where only one active cemetery still exists &mdash; the [[Trinity Church, New York|Trinity Church]] Cemetery and Crematory, at the intersection of 155th Street and Broadway, on the northwestern edge of [[Harlem, New York|Harlem]]). The relocation of cemeteries from San Francisco to Colma is the subject of ''A Second Final Rest: The History of San Francisco's Lost Cemeteries,'' (2005) a documentary by Trina Lopez.
Line 252: Line 227:
  
 
[[Joe DiMaggio]], the famous [[baseball]] player once married to actress [[Marilyn Monroe]], is buried at [[Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma|Holy Cross Cemetery]];{{ref label|NYT20061203|Pogash|e}} as are coffee heiress and [[Charles Manson|Manson]] murder victim [[Abigail Folger]]; San Francisco Mayor [[Joseph Alioto]]; 32nd governor of California [[Pat Brown]]; Bank of America founder [[Amadeo Giannini|A.P. Giannini]]; and Senator [[James D. Phelan]].
 
[[Joe DiMaggio]], the famous [[baseball]] player once married to actress [[Marilyn Monroe]], is buried at [[Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma|Holy Cross Cemetery]];{{ref label|NYT20061203|Pogash|e}} as are coffee heiress and [[Charles Manson|Manson]] murder victim [[Abigail Folger]]; San Francisco Mayor [[Joseph Alioto]]; 32nd governor of California [[Pat Brown]]; Bank of America founder [[Amadeo Giannini|A.P. Giannini]]; and Senator [[James D. Phelan]].
 
===Vatican City===
 
 
In 2003, workers excavating for a parking garage discovered a necropolis in [[Vatican City]]. Once it was discovered, work on the parking garage stopped and efforts to restore the site started. As of October 9, 2006, it is now open to the public. Visitors can use a catwalk to view the necropolis from a building built over the ruins.<ref>{{cite news
 
  | last = D'Emilio
 
  | first = Frances
 
  | title = Newly unveiled necropolis at Vatican
 
  | publisher = Associated Press via MSNBC
 
  | date = 2006-10-09
 
  | url = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15198192/
 
  | accessdate = 2007-03-27 }}</ref>
 
<ref>{{cite news
 
  | last = McMahon
 
  | first = Barbara
 
  | title = Ancient Roman treasures found under Vatican car park
 
  | publisher = The Guardian
 
  | date = 2006-10-10
 
  | url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1891559,00.html
 
  | accessdate = 2007-03-27 }}</ref>
 
 
 
  
 
== Notes ==
 
== Notes ==

Revision as of 12:55, 14 September 2007


File:Banditaccia1.jpg
View of the Etruscan necropolis of Banditaccia, in Cerveteri, Italy.
File:Nekropole (Taranto) - Via Crispi.jpg
Necropolis - athlete tomb (Taranto), Italy.
Radimlja necropolis of stećak in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Chaukundi necropolis near Karachi, Pakistan

A necropolis (plural: necropolises or necropoleis) is a large cemetery or burial place. Apart from the occasional application of the word to modern cemeteries outside large towns, the term is chiefly used of burial grounds near the sites of the centers of ancient civilizations.

Etymology

The word comes from Greek nekropolis "city of the dead".

History and purpose

The oldest necropolis in the world is probably the Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni in Paola, Malta which dates back to 2500 B.C.E.

Necropolises were built for many reasons. Sometimes their origin was purely religious: the Valley of the Kings in Egypt is a prime example. Other cultures created necropolises in response to prohibitions on burials within city limits: especially noteworthy and rich of artpieces are those from the Etruscan civilization found in southern Tuscany and northern Lazio regions of Italy. In the Roman Empire, roads immediately outside towns therefore came to be lined with funerary monuments. Examples of this kind of necropolis can be found on the Appian Way just outside Rome and at the Alyscamps in Arles, France.

During the 19th century, necropolises enjoyed a revival spurred by the Victorian fashion for large, elaborate memorials.

A modern-day example of a necropolis may be Colma, California. This suburb of San Francisco has been used for decades to bury the dead of San Francisco, as well as those of other nearby towns. The citizens had felt it necessary to bury the dead outside of city limits, and perhaps out of sight as well. Colma recently has become more of a working-class suburb, but the dead still outnumber the living in this small town.

The word is often used with a different connotation in fantasy literature; for instance, it might refer to a city populated by zombies or other undead creatures.


World Necropoleis

The following is a selection of famous necropoleis, grouped by continent and country, from around the world.

Europe

Austria

The Burgstallkogel from the West, as seen from the Georgenberg

The Burgstallkogel (also known as Grillkogel) is situated near the confluence of the Sulm and the Saggau river valleys in Southern Styria, about 30 km south of Graz between Gleinstätten and Kleinklein. The hill hosted a significant settlement of trans-regional importance from 800 B.C.E. to about 600 B.C.E. Surrounding the hill is one of the largest iron age hill grave necropolises, originally composed of at least 2,000 tumuli, that exists in continental Europe.

The hill the Burgstallkogel is prominently situated on runs from east to west, straddling the southern banks of the Sulm valley, on a trade route that crossed the Koralpe mountain range from Carinthia, connecting to the southern parts of the basin of Graz and onward to the Hungarian plains. The settlement apparently controlled long-distance trade along this route, which had been in use since neolithic times, and prospered from it. The community exchanged goods far into Italy and into the Balkans, and might have exploited the iron ore deposits that exist on the hill. The discovery of the necropolis provided archaeologists with a wealth of information regarding the ancient trade route.[1]

Bulgaria

The Varna Necropolis is a burial site in the western industrial zone of Varna (approximately half a kilometre from Lake Varna and 4 km from the city centre), Bulgaria, internationally considered one of the key sites in world prehistory.

A burial at Varna, with some of the world's oldest gold jewelry

The site was accidentally discovered in October 1972 by excavator operator Raycho Marinov. Research excavation was under the direction of Mihail Lazarov (1972-1976) and Ivan Ivanov (1972-1991). About 30% of estimated necropolis area is still not excavated.

294 graves have been found in the necropolis, many containing sophisticated examples of metallurgy (gold and copper), pottery (about 600 pieces, including gold-painted ones), high-quality flint and obsidian blades, beads, and shells.

The graves have been dated to 4600-4200 B.C.E. (radiocarbon dating, 2004) and belong to the Eneolithic Varna culture, which is the local variant of the KGKIV.

There are crouched and extended inhumations. Some graves do not contain a skeleton, but grave gifts (cenotaphs). Interestingly, the symbolic (empty) graves are the richest in gold artifacts. 3000 gold artifacts were found, with a weight of approximately 6 kilograms. Grave 43 (photo) contained more gold than has been found in the entire rest of the world for that epoch. Three symbolic graves contained masks of unburnt clay (photo).

The findings showed that the Varna culture had trade relations with distant lands (possibly including the lower Volga and the Cyclades), perhaps exporting metal goods and salt from the Provadiya rock salt mine. The copper ore used in the artifacts originated from a Sredna Gora mine near Stara Zagora, and Mediterranean Spondylus shells found in the graves may have served as primitive currency.

The culture had sophisticated religious beliefs about afterlife and developed hierarchal status differences: it offers the oldest known burial evidence of an elite male (the end of the fifth millennium B.C.E. is the time that Marija Gimbutas claims the transition to male dominance began in Europe). The high status male buried with the most remarkable amount of gold held a war adze or mace and wore a gold penis sheath. The bull-shaped gold platelets (photo) perhaps also venerated virility, instinctional force, and warfare. Gimbutas holds that the artifacts were made largely by local craftspeople.

According to M. Gimbutas (1991), "The discontinuity of the Varna, Karanovo, Vinča and Lengyel cultures in their main territories and the large scale population shifts to the north and northwest are indirect evidence of a catastrophe of such proportions that cannot be explained by possible climatic change, land exhaustion, or epidemics (for which there is no evidence in the second half of the 5th millennium B.C.E.). Direct evidence of the incursion of horse-riding warriors is found, not only in single burials of males under barrows, but in the emergence of a whole complex of Kurgan cultural traits."

According to J. Chapman (2005), "Once upon a time, not so very long ago, it was widely accepted that steppe nomads from the North Pontic zone invaded the Balkans, putting an end to the Climax Copper Age society that produced the apogee of tell living, autonomous copper metallurgy and, as the grandest climax, the Varna cemetery with its stunning early goldwork. Now the boot is very much on the other foot and it is the Varna complex and its associated communities that are held responsible for stimulating the onset of prestige goods-dominated steppe mortuary practice following the expansion of farming."

The artifacts can be seen at the Varna Archaeological Museum and at the National Historical Museum in Sofia. In 2006, some gold objects were included in a major and broadly advertised national exhibition of antique gold treasures in both Sofia and Varna.

The gold of Varna started touring the world in 1973; it was included in "The Gold of the Thracian Horseman" national exhibition, shown at many of the world's leading museums and exhibition venues in the 1970's. In 1982, it was exhibited for 7 months in Japan as "The Oldest Gold in the World - The First European Civilization" with massive publicity, including two full length TV documentaries. In the 1980s and 1990s it was also shown in Canada, Germany, France, Italy, and Israel, among others, and featured in a cover story by the National Geographic Magazine.

France

File:Alyscamps.jpg
The Alyscamps, Arles, France

The Alyscamps is a large Roman necropolis, which is a short distance outside the walls of the old town of Arles, France. It was one of the most famous necropolises of the ancient world. The name is a corruption of the Latin Elisii Campi (that is, Champs-Élysées or Elysian Fields). They were famous in the Middle Ages and are referred to by Ariosto in Orlando Furioso and by Dante in the Inferno.[2]

Roman cities traditionally forbade burials within the city limits. It was therefore common for the roads immediately outside a city to be lined with tombs and mausoleums; the Appian Way outside Rome provides a good example. The Alyscamps was Arles' main burial ground for nearly 1,500 years. It was the final segment of the Aurelian Way leading up to the city gates and was used as a burial ground for well-off citizens, whose memorials ranged from simple sarcophagi to elaborate monuments.

Medieval Church of Saint Honoratus in Les Alyscamps, Arles

The Alyscamps continued to be used after the city was Christianised in the 4th century. Saint Genesius, a Roman civil servant beheaded in 303 for refusing to follow orders to persecute Christians, was buried there and rapidly became the focus of a cult. Saint Trophimus, possibly the first bishop of Arles, was buried there soon afterwards. It was claimed that Christ himself attended the ceremony, leaving the imprint of his knee on a sarcophagus lid.

The area became a highly desirable place to be buried and tombs soon multiplied. As early as the 4th century there were already several thousand tombs, necessitating the stacking of sarcophagi three layers deep. Burial in the Alyscamps became so desirable that bodies were shipped there from all over Europe, with the Rhône boatmen making a healthy profit from the transportation of coffins to Arles.

The Alyscamps continued to be used well into medieval times, although the removal of Saint Trophimus' relics to the cathedral in 1152 reduced its prestige. During the Renaissance the necropolis was systematically looted, with city councillors giving sarcophagi as gifts to distinguished visitors and local people using funerary stones as building material. It was further damaged by the arrival of the railway and a canal in the 19th century, both of which sliced across the site. In late October 1888 Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin chose the Alyscamps as the first site for their expeditions where they painted side by side[3]; by this time it was a remnant of its former self. It has since been somewhat restored as an open-air museum. In his final book Caesar's Vast Ghost, Lawrence Durrell recommends the Alyscamps for its beauty and atmosphere; he writes: "It is unique in its charm."[4]

The better of the remaining sarcophagi are now on display in the Museum of Ancient Arles, which has one of the best collections of Roman sarcophagi to be found anywhere outside Rome itself.

Italy

  • Cerveteri is a town and comune of the northern Lazio, in the province of Rome. Originally known as Caere, it is famous for a number of Etruscan necropoleis that include some of the best Etruscan tombs anywhere.
File:Banditaccia1.jpg
Via degli Inferi, the main entrance to the Banditaccia Necropolis.

The most famous attraction of Cerveteri is the Necropoli della Banditaccia, which has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site together with the necropoleis in Tarquinia. It covers an area of 400 ha, of which 10 ha can be visited, encompassing a total of 1,000 tombs often housed in characteristic mounds. It is the largest ancient necropolis in the Mediterranean area. The name Banditaccia comes from the leasing (bando) of areas of land to the Cerveteri population by the local landowners.

The tombs date from the 9th century B.C.E. (Villanovan culture) to the late Etruscan age (3rd century B.C.E.). The most ancient ones are in the shape of a pit, in which the ashes of the dead were housed; also simple potholes are present.

From the Etruscan period are two types of tombs: the mounds and the so-called "dice," the latter being simple square tombs built in long rows along "roads." The visitable area contains two such "roads," the Via dei Monti Ceriti and the Via dei Monti della Tolfa (6th century B.C.E.).

The mounds are circular structures built in tuff, and the interiors, carved from the living rock, house a reconstruction of the house of the dead, including a corridor (dromos), a central hall and several rooms. Modern knowledge of Etruscan daily is largely dependent on the numerous decorative details and finds from such tombs. The most famous of these mounds is the so-called Tomba dei Rilievi (Tomb of the Reliefs, 4th century B.C.E.), identified from an inscripton as belonging to one Matunas and provided with an exceptional series of frescoes, bas-reliefs and sculptures portraying a large series of contemporary life tools.

The most recent tombs date from the 3rd century B.C.E. Some of them are marked by external cippi, which are cylindrical for men, and in the shape of a small house for women.

Most finds excavated at Cerveteri necropolis are currently housed in the National Etruscan Museum, Rome. Others are in the Archaeological Museum at Cerveteri itself.

  • Pantalica

The Necropolis of Pantalica is a large necropolis in Sicily with about 5000 tombs dating from the 13th to the 7th centuries B.C.E.

Pantalica is situated in the valleys of the rivers Anapo and Calcinara, between the towns of Ferla and Sortino in south-eastern Sicily.

Together with the city of Syracuse, Pantalica is listed as "Syracuse and the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica" on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Russia

  • Kremlin Wall Necropolis
Kremlin Wall Necropolis

The Kremlin Wall Necropolis (Russian: Некрополь у Кремлёвской стены) is a part of the Kremlin Wall, which surrounds the Moscow Kremlin and overlooks Red Square. Soviet governments buried many prominent local and international Communist figures here.

The first burial in the Red Square was performed on November 10, 1917 by the order of the Military Revolutionary Committee. The Soviets buried 238 Red Guards and soldiers who had died during the October Revolution in two common graves. In the autumn of 1919 they buried the secretary of the Moscow Committee of the Bolshevik Party, Vladimir Zagorsky, and a few other victims of a terrorist act performed by the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries on September 25.

The victims of an explosion in the building of the Dorogomilovsky Soviet, People's Commissar of the Postal Service and Telegraph Vadim Podbelsky, American journalist John Reed, secretary of the Moscow Committee Feodor Artyom, diplomats Vaclav Vorovsky and Peter Voikov and others were also buried in the necropolis.

In 1924, Lenin's Mausoleum became the center of the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. Behind the mausoleum and at the foot of the Senatskaya Tower of the Kremlin, there are the graves of Yakov Sverdlov, Felix Dzerzhinsky, Mikhail Frunze, Mikhail Kalinin, Georgy Zhukov, Andrei Zhdanov, Joseph Stalin, Kliment Voroshilov, Semyon Budyonny, Mikhail Suslov, Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko, with monuments. On both sides of the Senatskaya Tower, the Soviets placed urns with the ashes of CPSU members and members of foreign Communist parties, statesmen, military and political leaders, prominent people of science and culture between 1925 and 1984. Several cosmonauts, including Yuri Gagarin and the victims of the Soyuz 1 and Soyuz 11 disasters, are buried in the necropolis, as well as Sergei Korolev, chief designer of the Soviet space program.

In 1967, the Soviets opened a memorial called the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Kremlin Wall in the Alexander Garden.

Vatican City

In 2003, workers excavating for a parking garage discovered a necropolis in Vatican City. Once it was discovered, work on the parking garage stopped and efforts to restore the site started. As of October 9, 2006, it is now open to the public. Visitors can use a catwalk to view the necropolis from a building built over the ruins.[5] [6]


Middle East and Africa

Egypt


Israel

Entrance of the Cave of Coffins, in the Bet She'arim National Park.

Beit She'arim (Hebrew: בית שערים) is the archeological site of a town and a necropolis on the southern foothills of The Lower Galilee. Most of the remains date from the 2nd to 4th Century CE. The inscriptions in the catacombs reveal that the necropolis was of Jewish importance.

The site was first discovered by accident in 1936 by Alexander Zeid who stayed in the area while watching over the lands of the Jewish National Fund.


Morocco

Part of the Chellah interior

The Necropolis of Chellah, Chella or Sala (Arabic: شالة) is a necropolis and complex of ancient and medieval ruins that lie on the outskirts of Rabat, Morocco’s Ville Nouvelle, or modern section.

The site of Chellah is doubtless the most ancient human settlement on the mouth of the Bou Regreg river.

The Phoenicians and the Carthaginians, who founded several colonies in Morocco, probably inhabited the banks of the Bou Regreg. Chellah contains the remains of a Roman town known as Sala Colonia and referred to as Sala by Ptolemy. Excavations show an important port city town with uncovered remains including the Decumanus Maximus, or principal way, were discovered, as well as those of a forum, a monumental fountain, a triumphal arch, and other Roman ruins.

The site was abandoned in 1154 in favor of nearby Salé. The Almohad dynasty used the ghost town as a necropolis. In the mid-14th century, a Merinid sultan, Abu l-Hasan, built several monuments and the imposing main gate (dated to 1339). These later Merinid additions included a mosque, a zawiya, and royal tombs, including that of Abu l-Hasan.

Many of the structures in Chellah were damaged or destroyed in an 18th century earthquake.

The site has been converted to a garden and is now a tourist attraction.

Turkey

Termessos: A Pisidian city situated high on a mountain with remnants of an agora, theatre and an odion. It has a reputation of being the most magnificent necropolis on the Mediterranean, 35 km northwest of Antalya.

Hierapolis is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As the hot springs of Pamukkale were used as a spa since the 2nd century B.C.E., people came to soothe their ailings here. Many of them retired and died here. The large necropolis is filled with sarcophagi.


All types of tombs from Hellenic to Christian times can be seen at the necropolis in Hierapolis. People who came for medical treatment to Hierapolis in ancient times and the native people of the city buried their dead in monumental tombs of the tumulus, sarcophagus or house types according to their traditions. The necropolis extends from the Northern to the Eastern and Southern sections of the old city. Most of the tombs have been excavated. The St. Philip Martyrium was constructed in the name of St. Philip, one of Christ’s twelve disciples, outside the Northeastern section of the city walls, and has an octagonal structure. It is said that St. Philip is buried in the center of the building.

Asia

China

Pakistan

A tomb at Makli Hills necropolis built in 1559

One of the largest necropolises in the world, with a diameter of approximately 8 kilometers, Makli Hill is supposed to be the burial place of some 125,000 Sufi saints. It is located on the outskirts of Thatta, the capital of lower Sind until the seventeenth century, in what is the southeastern province of present-day Pakistan. [7]


Legends abound about its inception, but it is generally believed that the cemetery grew around the shrine of the fourteenth-century Sufi, Hamad Jamali. The tombs and gravestones spread over the cemetery are material documents marking the social and political history of Sind.

File:Makli2.JPG
The Quranic artwork at a decorated grave in the necropolis.

Imperial mausoleums are divided into two major groups, those from the Samma (1352–1520) and Tarkhan (1556–1592) periods. The tomb of the Samma king, Jam Nizam al-Din (reigned 1461–1509), is an impressive square structure built of sandstone and decorated with floral and geometric medallions. Similar to this is the mausoleum of Isa Khan Tarkhan II (d. 1651), a two-story stone building with majestic cupolas and balconies. In contrast to the syncretic architecture of these two monuments, which integrate Hindu and Islamic motifs, are mausoleums that clearly show the Central Asian roots of the later dynasty. An example is the tomb of Jan Beg Tarkhan (d. 1600), a typical octagonal brick structure whose dome is covered in blue and turquoise glazed tiles. Today, Makli Hill is a United Nations World Heritage Site that is visited by both pilgrims and tourists.

File:Makli3.JPG
Tombs at the necropolis.
File:Makli1.JPG
Sketch plan of the necropolis as stated by information point. Please enlarge to read the English text

The Americas

Cuba

Necropolis de San Carlos Borromeo in August 2007

Necropolis de San Carlos Borromeo aka Cementerio de San Carlos or San Carlos Cemetery is located in Matanzas, Cuba. It was inaugurated on September 2, 1872 on 13.5 hectacres. The U.S. Congressman Joseph Marion Hernandez is interred there in the del Junco family crypt.

Peru

The Paracas culture was an important Andean society between approximately 750 B.C.E. and 100 C.E. that developed in the Paracas Peninsula, located in what today is the Paracas District of the Pisco Province in the Ica Region. Most of our information about the lives of the Paracas people comes from excavations at the large seaside Paracas necropolis, first investigated by the Peruvian archaeologist Julio Tello in the 1920s.

The necropolis of Wari Kayan consisted of multitudes of large subterranean burial chambers, with an average capacity of about forty mummies. It is theorized that each large chamber would be owned by a specific family or clan, who would place their dead ancestors in the burial over the course of many generations. Each mummy was bound with cord to hold it in place, and then wrapped in many layers of incredibly intricate, ornate, and finely woven textiles. These textiles are now known as some of the finest ever produced in the history of Pre-Columbian Andean societies, and are the primary works of art by which Paracas is known. They had extensive knowledge of irrigation and water management.

United States

Colma is a small incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, at the northern end of the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 1,191 at the 2000 census. The town was founded as a necropolis in 1924.[8]

Much of the land of Colma is dedicated to cemetery usage. With 17 cemeteries for the interment of humans and one for pets, the dead population outnumber the living by thousands to one. This has led to it being called "the city of the silent," and also led to a more humorous motto among some residents: "It's good to be alive in Colma".[Pogash]

Colma became the location of a large number of cemeteries when San Francisco, the town's powerful neighbor to the north, passed an ordinance in 1900 outlawing the construction of any more cemeteries in the city (mainly because of increased property values making the cost of using land for cemeteries prohibitive), and then passed another ordinance in 1912 evicting all existing cemeteries from city limits. (A similar scenario prevails in New York City's borough of Manhattan, where only one active cemetery still exists — the Trinity Church Cemetery and Crematory, at the intersection of 155th Street and Broadway, on the northwestern edge of Harlem). The relocation of cemeteries from San Francisco to Colma is the subject of A Second Final Rest: The History of San Francisco's Lost Cemeteries, (2005) a documentary by Trina Lopez.

Colma was briefly called Lawndale, but because another city with the name Lawndale, California (in Los Angeles County) already existed, the town changed its name back to Colma in 1941. Originally, the residents of the town were primarily employed in occupations related to the many cemeteries in the town. Since the 1980s, Colma has become more diversified, with the variety of service and retail businesses typical of a small town in the United States.[Pogash]

A panoramic view of Colma, California, looking down from San Bruno Mountain.
A panoramic view of Colma, California, looking down from San Bruno Mountain.

Colma also contains the final resting place of Emperor Norton in Woodlawn Cemetery.

Newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst is buried at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park; as are business magnate William Henry Crocker; Charles De Young, founder of the San Francisco Chronicle; horticulturist John McLaren; and jazz musician and bandleader Turk Murphy.

Wyatt Earp is buried at the Hills of Eternity in Colma next to his wife, Josephine Marcus.[Pogash]

Joe DiMaggio, the famous baseball player once married to actress Marilyn Monroe, is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery;[Pogash] as are coffee heiress and Manson murder victim Abigail Folger; San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto; 32nd governor of California Pat Brown; Bank of America founder A.P. Giannini; and Senator James D. Phelan.

Notes

  1. Pydyn, A. "Exchange and cultural interactions: a study of long-distance trade and cross-cultural contacts in the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age in Central and Eastern Europe."( Archaeopress; 1999) ISBN 1841710261
  2. Lawrence Durrell, Caesar's Vast Ghost,Faber and Faber, 1990; paperback with corrections 1995; ISBN 0-571-21427-4; see page 98 in the reset edition of 2002
  3. Martin Gayford, The Yellow House: Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Nine Turbulent Weeks in Arles, Fig Tree, Penguin, 2006. ISBN 0-670-91497-5. See page 61
  4. Lawrence Durrell, work cited, page 100.
  5. D'Emilio, Frances, "Newly unveiled necropolis at Vatican", Associated Press via MSNBC, 2006-10-09. Retrieved 2007-03-27.
  6. McMahon, Barbara, "Ancient Roman treasures found under Vatican car park", The Guardian, 2006-10-10. Retrieved 2007-03-27.
  7. www.bookrags.com
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Bibliography

  • Bahn, Paul G. ed. 100 Great Archaeological Discoveries (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1995) (No. 34).
  • Bogucki, Peter, Pam J. Crabtree eds. Ancient Europe: an Encyclopedia of the Barbarian World, 8000 B.C.E. – A.D. 1000 (New York: Scribners, 2004) (p. 341).
  • Chapman, John. 1990. Social inequality on Bulgarian tells and the Varna problem, in R. Samson (ed.) The social archaeology of houses, 49—98, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
  • Chapman, John. 1991. The creation of social arenas in Varna. in P. Garwood (ed.), Sacred and profane. Oxford University Committee for Archaeology, Monograph 32: 152-171.
  • Hayden, Brian, 1998. An Archaeological Evaluation of the Gimbutas Paradigm. In The Virtual Pomegranate, issue 6, 1998.
  • Higham, T., Gaydarska, B. & Slavchev, V. The first AMS dates for the Varna cemetery. Antiquity 2004.
  • Ivanov, Ivan, M. Avramova. Varna Necropolis (Sofia, 2000).
  • Marazov, Ivan. 1997 The Blacksmith as 'King' in the Necropolis of Varna. In: From the Realm, J. Marler, ed.
  • Marler, Joan, 1999. A Response to Brian Hayden's article "An Archaeological Evaluation of the Gimbutas Paradigm. In The Virtual Pomegranate, issue 10, 1999.
  • Renfrew C 1978 Varna, and the social context of early metallurgy. Antiquity 52: 197-203.
  • Renfrew, Colin, and Paul Bahn. 1996. Archaeology: theories, methods, and practice. New York: Thames and Hudson.
  • Slavchev, V. Fragmentation research and the Varna Eneolithic Cemetery Spondylus rings. Proceedings of the Varna Round Table, 2004.
  • Todorova, Khenrieta. The eneolithic period in Bulgaria in the fifth millennium B.C.E. Oxford : British Archaeological Reports , 1978. BAR supplementary series 49.


External links

Illustration of Sind Tiles


Ayaz Asif's photo collection of the Makli Hills and the Shah Jahan Mosque.


Archnet.org Digital Library (Photographs)


Two Monuments on Makli Hill




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