tumulus

Definition of tumulusnext

Example Sentences

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Recent Examples of tumulus Cave art in this area is often used as another marker of the exceptional nature of hominids, and this discovery added another element to knowledge of early burials: the use of stones carried from elsewhere to build a tumulus over the body. Literary Hub, 31 Oct. 2025 The circular stone ruins stretched about 40 feet across and matched the general design of a Roman burial mound, or tumulus, archaeologists said. Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 24 Oct. 2025 Interestingly enough, the tumulus represents a meeting of Roman and Celtic traditions, though, by the looks of it, this funerary monument, possibly attached to a stately though unknown elite, was a symbolic gesture, piquing intrigue and revealing a slice of Roman life rarely seen. Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 19 Oct. 2025 Objects inside the tumulus included a number of relics associated with royal banquets such as bronze cauldrons, jugs, and bowls, as well as additional iron tools. Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 12 June 2025 Melena flags a hand limply at her older daughter as Nanny hoists Nessa onto the edge of the cot, where the girl lies, inert and cringing, in the lee of the tumulus that Melena has become. Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 5 Mar. 2025 Nearby, the researchers found a 197- by 26-foot tumulus, or burial mound, and an extravagant array of Greek funerary goods likely left by merchants and mercenaries living in the area. Isis Davis-Marks, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Aug. 2021 Another surprising discovery is a giant tumulus near the town of Amphipolis in northern Greece. National Geographic, 8 Apr. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tumulus
Noun
  • The cemetery has about 2,000 burial plots remaining.
    Daniel Lempres, Sacbee.com, 4 Feb. 2026
  • Alongside the bodies of martyrs from Iran’s past wars, the dusty earth of Behesht-e Zahra cemetery now cradles the remains of protesters killed in January’s protests, the latest conflict to rake Iran’s streets.
    Frederik Pleitgen, CNN Money, 3 Feb. 2026
Noun
  • Near the town of Sanquhar, a southwestern Scottish community nestled in verdant countryside, researchers stumbled upon a Bronze Age barrow—the first find of its kind in the area.
    Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 21 Dec. 2025
  • The landscape also offers up eighteenth-century farmhouses, lairds’ castles, Norse churches, Iron Age forts, and Bronze Age barrows alongside the Neolithic tombs, settlements, and standing stones—thousands of sites altogether, across twenty-odd inhabited islands.
    Alex Ross, New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2025
Noun
  • Ayers has a plus arm and has plus power, flashing it more in the Arizona Fall League last year (where his exit velocity peaked at 111 mph) than in the regular season, since Myrtle Beach is a graveyard for would-be home runs.
    Keith Law, New York Times, 4 Feb. 2026
  • Cities took on the atmosphere of graveyards, and mourning black became the dominant color of daily life.
    Shahrnush Parsipur, Time, 3 Feb. 2026
Noun
  • Jim Lapic, master gardener with the Penn State Master Gardener Program, uses broken terracotta pots and places them along the sides of his garden mounds.
    Michelle Mastro, Martha Stewart, 6 Feb. 2026
  • Another repost shows mounds of garbage piled up in New York City after the recent snowstorm.
    Bart Jansen, USA Today, 6 Feb. 2026
Noun
  • An unusual structural failure recently caused a dramatic, sinkhole-like collapse in an historic English churchyard — revealing a 300-year-old family vault.
    Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 26 Nov. 2025
  • Installing pipework through the churchyard for the heat pumps, which are in a fenced enclosure nearby, was a painstaking process.
    Chris Baraniuk, Wired News, 13 Nov. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Tumulus.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tumulus. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.

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