Tumulus MM

Tumulus MM, also known as Midas Mound, is the largest of more than 120 tumuli in the extensive necropolis near Gordion, on the right bank of the Sangaria River in central Anatolia, Turkey. It is a megalithic mound with integral stones and is dated by typological estimate to 700 BCE to 50 BCE.

The mound stands 53 m high and has a base diameter of 300 m. A 140 m tunnel, or dromos, leads to the burial chamber known as the “Гробница Мидаса”. Beneath the mound lay the burial of an important Phrygian king, together with objects including inlaid wooden furniture and bronze vessels.

Excavation in 1957 found the royal occupant lying on purple and golden textiles in an open log coffin, with a large array of bronze vessels and pottery. Most of the artifacts from the burial chamber are held by the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara, while some are kept in its branch, the Gordion Museum.

Anatolia has a long tradition of piling earth over graves. The best-known tumuli there belong to the Phrygian and Lydian kingdoms of the Iron Age. Near Gordion are more than one hundred tumuli from the ninth to sixth centuries BCE; Tumulus MM was built about 740 BCE and was then the largest tumulus in Anatolia.

Tumulus MM is a megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones) in Ankara Province, Turkey. Wikidata describes it as: Phrygian tumulus-type tomb at ancient Gordion. A typological estimate: 700 BCE to 50 BCE. No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the Russian article "Курган MM", shown in the original language.