TUMULI, ROADS AND PLOTS. DECODING THE MONUMENTAL FUNERARY SPACE OF THE 4TH-3RD CENTURIES BC KALLATIS

Abstract

The study focusses on the monumental elements of the 4th-3rd centuries BC cemeteries of Kallatis: the use of large tumuli, the implementation of a systematized network of funerary plots, the extent of the burial grounds, the discovery of a series of built chamber tombs under tumuli with elements of decorated architecture, including mural paintings and exceptional presence of a statue topping a tumulus. The detection and morphological characterisation of archaeological features and the recovering of the funerary landscapes’ spatial layout were based on historiographic study, remote-sensing and geophysical investigations.

Keywords

• western black sea, greek colony, tumuli, funerary plots, geophysics, aerial archaeology