Glossary Tombs and burial
Intramural and extramural
Also called: intramural burial, extramural cemetery
Inside (intramural) or outside (extramural) a settlement or its walls; used above all of where the dead were buried.
In Neolithic and Chalcolithic Cyprus the dead were buried intramurally, in pits among or beneath the houses. From the Early Bronze Age most communities buried in separate, extramural cemeteries of chamber tombs, such as Vounous. Late Bronze Age towns partly returned to burial inside the settlement, with tombs cut among the buildings of Enkomi, before extramural cemeteries became the norm again in the Iron Age. The same pair of words is used for finds and buildings: an extramural sanctuary stands outside the town. See architecture for how burial and settlement changed together.
Related terms
- Pit grave
A simple grave dug as a hole in the ground, usually for one body; the normal form of burial in Neolithic and Chalcolithic Cyprus.
- Necropolis
A large cemetery, especially the burial ground of an ancient town, usually set apart from the settlement itself.
- Extra-urban sanctuary
A sanctuary set in the countryside away from the main town, often on a boundary or route within a kingdom's territory.
Where it appears
- Architectural Transformations in Ancient Cyprus
- Society, Ritual, and Identity in Ancient Cypriot Mortuary Practice
- Bronze Age Chamber Tombs
- Neolithic and Chalcolithic Burial in Cyprus
- Chalcolithic Cyprus
- Cypro-Geometric Cyprus
- Neolithic and Picrolite Figurines
- Village Life in Early Bronze Age Cyprus
- Cypro-Archaic Cyprus
- Fortifications in Ancient Cyprus: From Khirokitia to the Siege of Paphos
- Late Bronze Age Cyprus
- Middle Bronze Age Cyprus
and 2 more compendium pages