33 Facts About Tombs That Will Absolutely Amaze You

Many civilizations and cultures used tombs to bury their dead loved ones.Many ancient Egyptian tombs highlighted Egypt’s intricate designs and architectural know-how. You can find many ancient drawings, engravings, stories, writing, and poems symbolizing ancient life.Have you ever been to an Egyptian museum? The talk of tombs and pharaohs is inevitable if you are roaming around inside the museum? Well, you’d be surprised to know that tombs are not just a part of Egypt’s history but also several other countries of the world.The practice of tombs as a means of burial has been prevalent for a long time, so read on to find out some interesting facts about when this tradition of burying the deceased started and which countries still follow this practice?History Of TombsOur first thought when we hear about Egypt is related to the famous tombs and pyramids. But what is a tomb? You can think of tombs as repositories or a burial chamber for the dead person’s remains. Tombs, especially for the ancient Egyptians, held a lot of significance as they believed in an afterlife, and tombs could help the deceased in their afterlife as long as they had a proper burial place. Let’s look at the history of tombs.Tombs emerged in prehistoric times as people practiced burying the dead near their residences. It is quite an ancient custom in many parts of the world.It was believed that the housing or residential areas were abandoned and sealed after a person died in some places.Before the concept of tombs, in ancient times, corpses were just buried underground and people laid stones on the grave in the belief of coating the human spirit and also preventing scavengers from eating away the body.These stones also played a role as informal markers for other offerings or sacrifices to be left.The structure of a tomb was determined by the religious faith of the society, especially the ancient Egyptians.The Egyptian pharaohs believed death to be a transitory phenomenon, and so they built royal pyramids to include any of their personal possessions and servants and also designed passageways to connect Earth with their afterlife.Ancient Egyptians believed tombs served as a gateway for an easy connection between heaven and the dead.The medieval Christian era looked upon a tomb to be symbolic of a religious home and this gave birth to Roman catacombs.Sometimes, churches were built on graves of martyrs, religious officials, great kings, and others. Tombs were believed to house their noble spirits.The word tomb has origins from the Greek word tymbos which means burial mound.Tombs, in general, also refer to the enclosure of many places like memorials, church monuments, graves, funerary monuments, and burial vaults.Generally, religious buildings such as churches have tombs, but cemeteries and churchyards are also used as burial places.Types Of TombsYou’d be surprised to know about the different variety of tombs present all over the world, and believe us when we say there are dozens of different kinds of tombs! Their structure, design, and architecture vary from culture to culture. Have a look at these famous types of tombs.Prehistoric tombs: These are the most basic and fundamental tombs constructed of megaliths covered with tumuli or earthen mounds. These were found in large communities.Tumuli: Tumuli are mounds of earth and stones that were raised on tombs or graves. Tumuli are usually found to cover ship burials.Olerdolana: These were essentially 19th century tombs that used rocks from medieval times. As the structures used to build a tomb were large and came from Olerdola (Barcelona), the name Olerdolana tombs came to be. The architecture and designs have Spanish, British, Portuguese, and French roots and are also known as rupestres.Cist Tombs: A cist is a coffin-like structure made out of small stones. These were built during the middle ages and were kept to hold the bodies of the dead.Sepulchres: These are Christian and Jewish tombs built from cavernous rocks for interment. The Tomb of Jesus and the Holy Sepulchre of the Holy Land are some eminent examples of this type of tomb.Yagura Tombs: These are tombs that were made in Japan during medieval times and they resemble man-made caves.Catacombs: These are cemeteries that ancient humans made in cities like Rome. You might have heard of the Catacombs of Rome; they are a good example of catacombs. The Christian catacombs had interesting architecture as they constructed arches for their tombs.Crypts: Crypts were like religious vaults made of bricks and stones underneath religious buildings such as churches.How were tombs built?Tombs were, and are still, one of the most fascinating subjects of history that most historians and archaeologists love to study. The reason? Well, a lot about the culture, traditions, and antique objects that are discovered, which can make anyone wonder as to what do these decorative and lavish items signify?Archaeologists and historians believe that the main purpose behind keeping luxurious goods with the deceased person was a belief held at that time that these items could be helpful for the dead in their afterlife. This is contrary to the popular notion that all the expensive items were to show off the status of the dead person and their family.Speaking about tombs, how exactly were they built? Surely, building such elaborately designed structures must take time, but what was the procedure? For starters, tombs early on were just meant for royalty.The most elaborate tombs you see in Egypt would belong to a famous king or their pharaohs.In the early years, Egyptians constructed mastabas made of dried bricks that were transported using shafts.Mastabas were large rooms built to honor the spirit of the deceased.The Pyramids of Giza are a very famous example of how exquisite the architecture was that was used for tombs.Do you know who is buried in the Great Pyramid of Giza? It is believed that the tomb was constructed for Pharaoh Khufu, a fourth dynasty pharaoh, and his queen.Pharaoh Khufu reigned from 2589-2566 BC.Amazing Facts About TombsAncient Egypt is not the only place where you would find tombs, although most of the tombs are from ancient Egypt. Well, find more such amazing unheard facts about tombs here.India has one world’s famous tombs, the Taj Mahal, commissioned by Shah Jahan in 1632. The Taj Mahal, a famous tomb, was built to honor Shah Jahan’s favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.The most famous three pyramids were robbed repeatedly over centuries. Yet, some artifacts like furniture, jewelry, and hieroglyphs have been kept intact, which has helped many archaeologists to discover ancient Egyptian practices and their daily lives.The Great Pyramids of Giza were constructed more than 5000 years ago and are Egypt’s most famous tombs to visit.Teti, the first king of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt is buried at Saqqara. Many ancient Egyptian nobles and kings are buried at Saqqara, an Egyptian village in GizaThe Tomb of Eagles was constructed around 3000 BC and surprisingly still contains the bones of 300 people who were buried in it. Among the skeletons of several human beings, the remains of 700 eagles were also found, which is why the tomb is called the Tomb of eagles.The Valley of Kings is a collection of very elaborate tombs lying on the western bank of the Nile near Luxor. During 1539-1075 BC, this valley in Egypt’s New Kingdom was the royal burial land for famous pharaohs such as Seti I, Tutankhamun, and Ramses II. Several high priests, elites, and queens of the 18-20th dynasties were buried in the valley.An interesting fact to note is the entrance to the Maeshowe tomb. If you were to visit it, you would have to move a great stone and then climb down into the chamber.The same construction idea is seen in Ireland’s tomb of Newgrange, which is, in fact, one of the world’s oldest tombs built during 3300-2900 BC. They are even older than the Mycenaean Civilization and the Great Pyramids of Giza.If you are going to plan a vacation to Egypt anytime soon, then here is a list of places, including some of the famous tombs that you should add to your itinerary; Khan El Khalili Bazaar (which was originally built to serve as a mausoleum), the Great Sphinx, Luxor’s Valley of the Kings, Karnak & Hatshepsut temple, the Pyramids of Giza, Aswan’s Abu Simbel temples, and the Unfinished Obelisk.Most of the ancient Egyptian tombs have biographical texts that are, in reality, are the achievements of the tomb owner, but most people say it to be an act of self-praising.The tombs used for pharaohs were built in ancient Egypt over 4500 years ago.According to Herodotus, a Greek Historian, it took 100,000 people to construct the great pyramids, but modern technology places the estimate quite a bit lower, around only 20,000!An empty tomb is called a cenotaph and is built for people who are unknown or buried elsewhere. One such example is Whitehall.Many cultures and customs have superseded the tomb by several other memorials or monuments to the dead. At times in ancient Greece, the ashes of dead bodies were stored in funerary urns.According to medieval Christian culture, the tomb was believed to be a symbol of celestial home or Earthly prototype. This same concept was true for Roman catacombs, where the walls were filled with resurrection scenes inside paradise.In the old Middle Kingdom, paintings and statuettes of Egyptian life can be found, and this was a trend followed in most tombs of ancient Egypt. Many tombs contained painted pictures or statues of human beings and their lifestyle.Most of these tomb paintings would even have images of young and healthy pharaohs and gods. The heads of these figures were shown with just one eye visible. Their shoulder would be front-facing and face almost expressionless.Did you ever wonder what the first pyramids looked like? Well, the origins were mastabas, which is Arabic for benches. These pyramids were made of rectangular brick structures and mud, and the earliest one dates back to around 2925-2775 BC during ancient Egypt’s first dynasty.Did you know that a pharaoh’s tomb is called a sarcophagus?The famous King Tutankhamun had with him in his tomb many interesting items such as a bronze razor, board games, linen undergarments, wine, and food! There were gold daggers found too, which were believed to protect him in his afterlife. A headrest for rebirth was also recovered from the tomb.Emperors, at times, chose and built their own tombs. The second king of the Ming dynasty, when he decided to move the capital from Nanjing to Beijing, supervised the construction of his own tomb! How strange is this?Egyptian pyramids required a lot of investment for the kings of the old times and with robbery cases increasing, many royals started the concept of secret tombs to avoid money and time expenditure. This was more evident after the duration of the old kingdom as the concept of pyramids started becoming obsolete.Over time the famous pyramids which housed the tombs of several queens and kings became a hotspot for tomb raiders to pillage, especially during Egypt’s middle kingdom and old kingdom.Expensive and antique items were discovered during the excavation of tombs, despite regular robberies.In the ’20s, C. Leonard Wooley discovered several exquisite works of lapis lazuli, gold, and the diadem of Puabi queen having carnelian in the royal tombs of Ur.

Many civilizations and cultures used tombs to bury their dead loved ones.