Tumulus as Sema

Book excerpt: Tumuli were the most widespread form of monumental tombs in the ancient world. Their impact on landscape, their allurement as well as their symbolic reference to a glorious past can still be felt today. The need of supra-regional and cross-disciplinary examination of this unique phenomenon led to an international conference in Istanbul in 2009. With almost 50 scholars from 12 different countries participating, the conference entitled TumulIstanbul created links between fields of research which would not have had the opportunity to meet otherwise. The proceedings of TumulIstanbul revolve around the question of the symbolic significance of burial mounds in the 1st millennium BC in the Eastern Mediterranean and Black-Sea regions, providing further insight into Kurgan neighbours from Eurasia.