ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

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The rock tomb, rock chamber tomb or rock tomb is an artificial cave that was originally used for funeral purposes. The British Aidan Dodson defines the rock tomb as tombs cut into the rock, which have no significant masonry superstructure. Rock tombs have been found in various cultures since the Neolithic period. In the central Mediterranean area, rock tombs are typical especially for the Copper Age.

The term primarily refers to an excavation of the grown rock ( ) for burials, which creates a definite, but not necessarily cultural-historical proximity to “Steinkists”. Ruth Whitehouse is convinced that there is no connection to megalithic architecture.

Dissemination

Prehistory and early history

Burials in artificial excavations are found in Europe, Near East Asia (including Lambousa in Cyprus) and Egypt. In Europe, they originate mainly from the Copper and Bronze Age. The oldest examples are in the Central Mediterranean. The most complex structures are found in Malta, Sardinia and the Balearic Islands. These are mutually independent insular developments.

In France, for example, the grottoes at Arles and the Tombeau des Géants are among the rock tombs, in the Iberian Peninsula the complex of Alcaide, also known as the dome tomb, in the Balearic Islands the Cuevas, in Malta (Bur Mghez, Xemxija) and in Sardinia the “baking oven tombs” or the Domus de Janas (houses of fairies) or structurally unique ones such as Campu Luntanu and in Sicily (e.g. Thapsos). Individual examples can also be found on Orkney.

The prerequisite for an already Neolithic appearance was relatively soft rock, which could be processed with Stone Age tools. This was mainly sedimentary rocks, for example the “globigerine” lime on Malta. Since the work required great effort, the older Sardinian Domus de Janas are hardly a cubic meter in size.

According to Whitehouse, the earliest examples of rock tombs are found in Italy and Sicily. In Italy, few specimens date back to the 5th millennium, they are caves for individual burials. Far more frequent were burials in pits or natural caves. It was not until the third millennium that rock tombs became the rule. In southern and eastern Italy, mainly furnace-shaped rock tombs were used in the Copper Age. In the Bronze Age (Apennin culture), with few exceptions, the earth burial again prevailed. Also in Sicily, rock tombs began only in the Copper Age. In Malta, they begin in the Zebugg phase, in Sardinia with the Ozieri culture, to be reused or reused until the bell-cup culture. In the west, rock tombs occur mainly in the Balearic Islands (poorly dated) and at the mouth of the Tajo. Dating is sparse and points to an origin in the 3rd millennium.

Egypt

From 4. The millennium was also in the Levant and