When we hear the word "mound", our imagination, as a rule, draws a picture of an earthen hill covered with grasses, under which an ancient burial is hidden. This is due to the fact that it was the burial mounds that turned out to be the most interests of humanity. Ancient people, believing in the underworld, turned burial places, in fact, into treasures, which subsequently attracted the attention of archaeologists, treasure hunters and black diggers. So what are mounds? What purpose were they built for?
What does the word barrow mean?
Dictionaries interpret the meaning of the word “barrow” in different ways, translating it from various languages. Literally translated from Turkish barrow means "fortress." Sometimes it is called a hill over an ancient burial place, burial ground, hill or small hill. In the Tatar sense, the word "mound" can be just a hill and a mound; ancient grave; ice slide rushing along the sea (iceberg); a metal jug that has a spout, a handle and a lid; kubgan, or kungan, and more correctly - kumgan; bachelor with water.
Translated from the ancient Turkic language, the meaning of the word "mound" is "hill" or "embankment". The Sumerians called the mound hills the words “kur-an” and “kur-gal”, that is, “a mountain of heaven” or “a great mountain”. And also the mounds are Maars, hills, Lithuanian graves.
In Russian, this word denoted the border, border, watchtower. Why so? And because foreign lands began behind the mounds. In addition, for the Russians, this word was a way out, astrakhan, Babylon, cellar and basement with a complex device.
Mound - what is it?
To believe that this is just a burial is wrong. Then what are mounds? They organized not only burial grounds, but also public premises, and storage rooms. Inside the mounds, churches with an altar and magnificent acoustics were arranged. They were provided with royal doors and prayer rooms.
In the mounds, where no temple attributes were found, dwellings appeared to be arranged. They were an old-fashioned house. Mounds are stone structures built without the use of adhesive mortars. The earth was poured on such dwellings in order to prevent rain from getting inside the building. An earthen hill served these buildings as a kind of roof.
And what are the mounds built on Russian lands? In Russian villages, exits-babylon, or rather small-sized cellars, have been preserved to this day, similar in design to typical barrows. Their cameras are made of stone or wood and sprinkled with earth. The main purpose of the cellars is the storage of vegetables, fruits, pickles and other things. If a glacier is built in the cellar, it stores, as in a refrigerator, perishable products, for example, meat, milk.
Device
So what are mounds? These are earthen embankments over ancient buildings of various purposes. The first of them belong to the Late Neolithic and Eneolithic. Archaeologists have discovered such hills across all continents (with the exception of Australia). In mounds, as a rule, a spherical shape. However, there are structures with a rectangular or oval base.
Their size is different. Large hills have a diameter of over 100 meters and a height of over 20 meters. Long mounds look like elongated mounds. Solitary graves and mass tribal burials covered the earth. Their internal premises have a different device. They were built in the form of crypts, catacombs, wooden log cabins, stone or earthen chambers.
The burial grounds were filled with utensils, weapons, decorations, food. Wives, slaves and horses were buried in them along with the deceased. Mounds are mostly formed by whole groups of hills. Giant burial grounds are formed of several thousand embankments. Although there are also free-standing mounds. All of them differ in the size and richness of the interior.
History of Matvey Kurgan
Mateevev Kurgan is a rural settlement in the Rostov region. Its name comes from the legend that once robbers hunted in those places. Ataman they had Matvey. The slain leader of the gang, who was robbing merchants, was buried on a mound located on the banks of the Mius River.
This place, Matvey Kurgan, historians associate with the "Word about Igor's regiment ...". It was on the expanses of the eastern vicinities of the village that the preliminary battle of the Polovtsians with Prince Igor took place. Here, the commander was captured by nomads who used the "Greek fire".
In 1942, bloody battles were fought between the three naval brigades and the fascist invaders on the heights of the village. Now on the mound, above the mass grave, there is a memorial ensemble to the Soviet won, who gave their lives during the Second World War.
Mamayev Kurgan
This name arose a very long time ago. But, apparently, it can not be associated with the name of the commander Mamaia. There is an opinion that the name for the mound was the Turkic word, translated as "hill", "elevation". However, according to another version, an outpost constructed by Khan Mamai was located in the place of this mound. Therefore, the hill received the same name.
In 1942-1943 in the center of Volgograd for two hundred days the fierce battle of Stalingrad rumbled. Soviet soldiers defended the height of 102.0, beating it from the Germans. After the Second World War, Mamaev Kurgan became a place of memory and sorrow. A memorial complex was erected on the hill in honor of the heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad. In the compositional center of the ensemble, the sculpture "Motherland" is installed.