Glossary Tombs and burial
Collective burial
Also called: multiple burial
The use of one tomb for many burials made over years or generations, typically by a family or kin group.
Collective burial begins in Cyprus with the first chamber tombs of the Late Chalcolithic and becomes the standard practice of the Bronze Age. For each new death the dromos was dug out, the stomion unblocked, and earlier remains and their offerings were pushed aside to make room. Some tombs were used for many generations. Repeated reopening is why tomb contents are often mixed, and why assigning an object to one burial is hard. See Bronze Age chamber tombs.
Full entry: Bronze Age Chamber Tombs
Related terms
- Secondary burial
A burial in which bones are moved from where the body was first laid and reburied or rearranged, usually after the flesh had decayed.
- Dromos
The passage, often sloping or stepped, cut into the ground or rock to reach the doorway of a chamber tomb.
- Stomion
The low doorway between the dromos and the burial chamber of a rock-cut tomb, closed with a slab or stones after each burial.
- Grave goods
Objects placed with the dead at burial, such as pots, tools, weapons, jewellery and food.