The Lesser Phrygian Tumuli Part II

This volume contains the excavation report for 11 cremation burials from the Phrygian site of Gordion in central Anatolia. These tombs, dating from the later 7th century to the third quarter of the 6th century BCE, were excavated by the Penn Museum between 1950 and 1969, and by the Germans Alfred and Gustav Körte in 1900. The processes for interment through construction of tumulus and cremation procedure are detailed, followed by an analysis of associated finds. Two tumuli of the Hellenistic period, both covering stone chambers with inhumation burials, are included in an appendix. Further appendices present specific materials excavated from the cremations. A discussion of the contemporary inhumation and cremation tumulus burials at Gordion in the Phrygian period, highlighting their continuities and significant differences, forms part of the conclusion, as does discussion of sociocultural developments at Gordion between ca. 650–525 BCE as illuminated by the mortuary remains. The tumuli afford insights into issues related to gender, religion, adult/child identity, trade, social status, ethnicity, transcultural affiliations, ceramic developments, jewelry manufacture, high-status artifact display (including ivory), feasting behaviors, animal sacrifice, hero cult, and widespread “killing” of artifacts associated with the cremation burials.

This publication of Gordion’s tumuli makes available the elite cremation burials of the later Middle and early Late Phrygian (Achaemenid) periods, including the two Körte tumuli, and provides a complete presentation of the cremation tumuli at Gordion. They permit a glimpse into life, death, and an elaborate system of value at Gordion during this most turbulent century.

Ellen L. Kohler was Executive Editor of Gordion Publications from 1977–1987 and the Archivist for the Gordion Project Archives at the Penn Museum from 1987–2005.

Elspeth R. M. Dusinberre is Professor of Distinction in the Department of Classics at the University of Colorado Boulder.