Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)
‘Ayn al Balanj
No licensed photograph yetWe have no photograph we may publish for this site, so the interpretive 3D view leads instead.
Overview
About this site
Overview
‘Ayn al Balanj is a spring in north-eastern Libya, recorded in the catalogue as the location of a megalithic mound (a tumulus with integral stones). It lies 800 km east of Tripoli, the capital, at 535 metres above sea level.
No archaeological description or date of the mound is available.
Read on Wikipedia2 min readCC BY-SA 4.0
Article
‘Ayn al Balanj
The average temperature is 19 °C; the hottest month is August, at 28 °C, and the coldest is January, at 9 °C.
SettingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (ceb): ‘Ayn al BalanjCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (ceb): ‘Ayn al BalanjCC BY-SA 4.0
The terrain around ‘Ayn al Balanj is flat to the south-east and hilly to the north-west. The surroundings are almost covered by forest, and caves are common in the region. The population density is about 22 people per square kilometre. The nearest larger town is Al Bayḑā', 7.8 km to the east.
The climate is Mediterranean. The average temperature is 19 °C; the hottest month is August, at 28 °C, and the coldest is January, at 9 °C. Average annual rainfall is 428 millimetres. The wettest month is December, with 104 millimetres, and the driest is July, with 1 millimetre.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (ceb): ‘Ayn al BalanjCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (ceb): ‘Ayn al BalanjCC BY-SA 4.0
A tumulus, or barrow, is a mound of earth and stones raised over one or more graves. Mounds are among the oldest and most widespread grave markers on Earth. A simple mound is a hemispherical heap of earth or stone raised over a burial placed in the middle; more complex ones have ditches, stone kerbs, and chambers of stone or timber. Dating mounds is hard because most have never been opened.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Burial mounds and tumuli worldwide
A tumulus, or barrow, is a mound of earth and stones raised over one or more graves. A cairn is the same idea in stone, and in different places the same monument is called a barrow, kurgan, kofun, haugr or mound. Mounds are among the oldest and most widespread grave markers on Earth. They were built in Europe from the Stone Age to the Iron Age and beyond, across the steppe and Central Asia, in China, Korea and Japan, and in the Americas. A simple mound is a hemispherical heap of earth or stone raised over a burial placed in the middle; more complex ones have ditches, stone kerbs, and chambers of stone or timber, and many were built up in layers of soil, stone and turf.
Dating mounds is hard because most have never been opened. Archaeologists use radiocarbon dating of bone, charcoal and wood; tree rings where timbers survive; pottery and metalwork inside; and the typology of the mound's shape. Where none of these is available the Atlas gives a broad range. The grave goods of the richest mounds, such as weapons, gold, horses and even ships, show that the mounds were also statements of rank and power.
Cairns carry a good deal of folklore. In Ireland it is traditional to carry a stone up from the bottom of a hill and add it to a cairn at the top, and an old Scottish Gaelic blessing says "I'll put a stone on your cairn". In Portugal a legend says that the stones of a cairn (moledro) are enchanted soldiers. These are traditions, not facts about who is buried.
When visiting, look for the setting: mounds are usually placed to be seen from a path, a ridge or the sea.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Tumulus, Wikipedia: Burial mound, Wikipedia: Kurgan, Wikipedia: Cairn, Wikipedia: Round barrow · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 535 CE
535 metros ibabaw sa dagat kahaboga ang nahimutangan sa ‘Ayn al Balanj.
Source
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.
Where it stands
Libya
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 32°45′47″ N, 21°40′18″ EFor a GPS or map app: 32.76306, 21.67167
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.
1 source behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q27490557wikidata.org
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "‘Ayn al Balanj" (ceb), 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 (ceb): ‘Ayn al BalanjCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q27490557CC0