La tomba a camera costruita. Nascita, storia e diffusione di un tipo tombale nel Mediterraneo orientale

FEDERICA FLORE

DOI:https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17853774

Abstract

The built chamber tomb is a particular type of funerary monument characterized by its monumental features. It originated in Mesopotamia as early as the third millennium BCE and subsequently spread throughout the Near East during the second millennium BCE. The best-preserved examples, still visible today, are undoubtedly those documented at the site of Ugarit (modern Syria), dated between the 14th and 13th centuries BCE, and at Tel Achziv (northern Israel), dated to the early 10th century BCE. Beginning in the Bronze Age, this type of tomb also spread to the island of Cyprus, where it continued to be used throughout the Iron Age. The Cypriot tombs can be interpreted as the result of influences not only from the Syro-Palestinian area, but also from Anatolia and the Aegean world. Cyprus thus emerges as a genuine bridge between East and West. Through Phoenician mediation, the aforementioned eastern prototypes spread across the western Mediterranean, influencing various local funerary architectures.
The present study examines in detail the documented examples from Syria, Phoenicia, and Cyprus. Its aim is to identify the dynamics and cultural interactions that enabled the diffusion of the built chamber tomb first across the eastern Mediterranean and subsequently into the western Mediterranean.

Keywords

built chamber tombs; Ancient Near East; funerary architecture; Bronze Age; Iron Age

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