Delimited Funerary Spaces – Hellenistic Tumuli with Stone Enclosures at Kallatis

Abstract

This article analyzes the practice of delimiting tumuli graves with stone enclosures, mainly in the Classical and Hellenistic cemeteries of Kallatis/ Callatis (Mangalia), a Dorian establishment on the western Black Sea, following the recent exploration of a monumental tumulus ensemble, the Documaci Mound, built at the end of the 4th c. BC-early 3rd c. BC at 3 km west of the ancient city limits. The mound, covering a chamber tomb with semi-cylindrical vault, plastered walls and dromos, was surrounded at its base, measuring around 169 m in circumference, by a stone wall, 1.2 m high and 87 cm thick. After offering a systematic description of the Documaci Mound enclosure wall, the authors take on the occasion to discuss certain funerary architectural developments in the Greek colonies on the western and northern Black Sea shores, related to the use of periboloi and other stone delimitations (stone rings, kerbs, krepidae) during the Classical period, establishing also general connections with the building trends of the early Hellenistic period of erecting imposing funerary monuments in contexts related to enhancement of the individual identity expression in Macedonia and Thrace.