Chamber tomb in the context of "Mausoleums"

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⭐ Core Definition: Chamber tomb

A chamber tomb is a tomb for burial used in many different cultures. In the case of individual burials, the chamber is thought to signify a higher status for the interred than a simple grave. Built from rock or sometimes wood, the chambers could also serve as places for storage of the dead from one family or social group and were often used over long periods for multiple burials.

Most chamber tombs were constructed from large stones or megaliths and covered by cairns, barrows or earth. Some chamber tombs are rock-cut monuments or wooden-chambered tombs covered with earth barrows. Grave goods are a common characteristic of chamber tomb burials.

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Chamber tomb in the context of Mausoleum

A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb, or the tomb may be considered to be within the mausoleum.

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Chamber tomb in the context of Standing stones

A menhir (/ˈmɛnhɪər/; from Brittonic languages: maen or men, "stone" and hir or hîr, "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. They can be found individually as monoliths, or as part of a group of similar stones. Menhirs' size can vary considerably, but they often taper toward the top.

Menhirs are found across Europe, Africa, and Asia, with a concentration in Western Europe, notably in Ireland, Great Britain, and Brittany. Theories concerning their purpose remain speculative, with hypotheses ranging from druidic rituals to territorial markers or elements of an ideological system. Some menhirs feature engravings, including anthropomorphic figures and symbols, and are often associated with ancient religious ceremonies and burial chambers.

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Chamber tomb in the context of Pinax

In the modern study of the culture of ancient Greece and Magna Graecia, a pinax (Greek: πίναξ; pl.: pinakes, πίνακες, meaning 'board') is a votive tablet of painted wood, or terracotta, marble or bronze relief that served as a votive object deposited in a sanctuary or as a memorial affixed within a burial chamber.Such pinakes feature in the classical collections of most comprehensive museums.

In the Third and Fourth Style of ancient Roman mural painting, a pinax was a painted framed picture usually in the main zone of the wall surface.

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Chamber tomb in the context of Domus de Janas

Domus de Janas (Sardinian for 'House of the Fairies' or, alternatively, 'House of Witches') are a type of pre-Nuragic rock-cut chamber tomb found in Sardinia. They consist of several chambers quarried out by the people of the San Ciriaco through Ozieri cultures and subsequent cultures, resembling houses in their layout.

Built mostly between 3400 and 2700 BC, they date to the late Neolithic, Chalcolithic and early Bronze Age, including the Bell Beaker period. A necropolis of them at the site of Anghelu Ruju, near Alghero, consists of 38 tombs. Other large sites are those of Montessu, near Villaperuccio, and of Sant'Andrea Priu at Bonorva. Many other domus de janas can be found throughout the island, with the exception of Gallura (where the deceased were usually buried in megalithic circles, such as that those of Li Muri).

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Chamber tomb in the context of Mycenaean chamber tomb

A Mycenaean chamber tomb is the type of chamber tomb that was built in Mycenaean Greece. Mycenaean chamber tombs originated in Messenia at the end of the Middle Helladic period (c. 1600 BCE), and were built and used throughout the Late Bronze Age across the Aegean area.

Mycenaean chamber tombs were cut into the bedrock (as opposed to the contemporary tholos tombs, which are constructed from masonry), usually on sloping terrain, and formed of a chamber (thalamos), joined to a rectangular passageway (dromos) by a threshold (stomion). The size, elaboration and monumentality of Mycenaean chamber tombs varies considerably, as do the grave goods found within them, suggesting that they were used for the burials of people across a wide range of social strata.

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