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Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)
tumulus of Waesmont
DatedEst. 4000–2000 BCE
Photo Romaine · CC0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The Plattetombe, also called the tumulus of Waasmont, is a very large oval mound near Waasmont in the municipality of Landen, in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. It lies between Waasmont and Raatshoven, almost on the provincial boundary.
It is a Gallo-Roman tumulus and is said to have been raised in the 2nd century. In popular tradition it is the tomb of Pepin of Landen.
Read on Wikipedia1 min readCC BY-SA 4.0
Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
Article
tumulus of Waesmont
The mound now measures 77 by 59 metres, with a circumference of 228 metres and a maximum height of 15 metres.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Dutch): PlattetombeCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Dutch): PlattetombeCC BY-SA 4.0
The mound now measures 77 by 59 metres, with a circumference of 228 metres and a maximum height of 15 metres. Its surface area is 36 are and its volume is 36,000 cubic metres. Two other Gallo-Roman tumuli stand in the same municipality: the Tumulus of Betz and the Tumulus of Middelwinden.
NameSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Dutch): PlattetombeCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Dutch): PlattetombeCC BY-SA 4.0
The mound is known by several names: Plattetombe, Platte tombe, Waasmontse Tom, Tombe Pepin and tumulus of Waasmont.
FolkloreSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Dutch): PlattetombeCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Dutch): PlattetombeCC BY-SA 4.0
In popular tradition the mound is called the grave of Pepin of Landen.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Low Countries and French barrows
Round barrows are found across the Low Countries and France. Many were raised in the Late Neolithic and the Bronze Age. The Bell Beaker phenomenon of the late third millennium BCE brought a new burial rite to western Europe: individual burials, often under a tumulus and with weapons, in contrast to the collective, weaponless burials of the earlier Neolithic. The Dutch hunebedden, the megalithic tombs of the north, belong to the earlier tradition and are described in their own article.
Round barrows are hemispherical mounds raised over a central burial, which may be an inhumation or a cremation placed in a vessel. Barrows were often reused: later graves were cut into the mound, sometimes long after the first burial, and many attract satellite burials. In France and Belgium, tumuli of the Hallstatt period belong to the early Iron Age, from about 800 BCE; from phase B of the Hallstatt sequence, tumulus burial becomes common and cremation predominates.
Dating relies on pottery and metalwork, and on radiocarbon dating where a mound has been dug. Many have been ploughed down, so the Atlas map reflects where mounds survived and were recorded as much as where they were built.
When visiting, look for the surrounding ditch or kerb, and for a later disturbance at the centre where a later grave or an old digging has cut the mound.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Tumulus, Wikipedia: Round barrow, Wikipedia: Bell Beaker culture, Wikipedia: Hallstatt culture, Wikipedia: Hunebed · CC BY-SA 4.0
See it in 3D
An interpretive reconstruction of the monument, standing on the real ground at its exact point, under the sun for that place and season. Drag to look around it.
The reconstruction is ours, not a survey: it shows what a monument of this type looks like, at the size the record gives for this one.
Photographs
4 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 4000–2000 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for megalithic mounds in Belgium; this site has not been dated itself. Belgian barrows: the tumuli of Weris in the Belgian Luxembourg date from the 4th and 3rd millennia BC and the tumulus of Court-Saint-Etienne to around 3,000 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
Belgium
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 50°43′54″ N, 5°02′55″ EFor a GPS or map app: 50.73161, 5.04863
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q2691955wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
Report a correctionWrong date, name, photograph or source? Tell us and it will be put right.
Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Plattetombe" (Dutch), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors
- Wikipedia (Dutch): PlattetombeCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q2691955CC0