tumulus
nounUK /ˈtjuːmjələs/ · US /ˈtuːmjələs/
Etymology From Latin tumulus (“mound, hill”), from tumeō (“to swell”). Doublet of tombolo.
1
Archaeology, History, Human sciences, Sciences A mound of earth, especially one placed over a prehistoric tomb; a barrow.
- They planted the cannon on the tumuli, sole elevations in this level country, and formed themselves into column and hollow square.1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter I, in The Last Man. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:
- Near Smeinogorsk an octagonal tumulus has been found containing the corpse of a horse near a rectangular one with a human corpse, both within stone circles.1898, Friedrich Ratzel, The History of Mankind, volume III, London: Macmillan and Co., page 325:
2 more examples
- The delicate white body will be covered to-day, The tumulus be reared, the green sod give way: And there, oh Cynvarch, thy son they will lay.1898, Ernest Rhys, “The Lament for Urien from the Herbest”, in Welsh Ballads:
- The tumulus is one of mankind's oldest burial monuments, dating back to 4,000 to 5,000 years B.C. […] Examples of tumuli can be seen peppering the landscape all over Western Europe.2004, Douglas Keister, Stories in Stone, Gibbs Smith, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 14:
- Synonyms
- burial mound § Synonyms
- Derived terms
- tumulous, Tumulus culture