From Kurgan to Tomb, Monumental Women's Tombs in the Turks

Abstract

One of the most important elements of the Gök Tanrı belief, which was the first belief adopted by the Turks, was the belief that there was another life after death. The belief in another life after death led to the emergence of some burial ceremonies and grave types. In ancient Turks, the type and cause of death, the place and time of death, the will of the deceased and the position of the deceased in society determined how the burial would be. Since burial practices in belief systems shaped around the Gök Tanrı belief bore traces of different cultural and religious interactions, main burial methods such as burying the dead in the ground, burning and displaying were applied. For this reason, graves perceived as a common area between the two worlds also varied. An ordinary person would be buried in selected cemetery areas in accordance with their beliefs. Kurgan type graves were the graves where important people were buried. In order to ensure the comfort of the deceased in the afterlife, burial chambers were built underground in these graves and the top of the grave was covered with stones or soil in the form of a hill. The weapons, horses and valuables belonging to the deceased were also buried in these grave chambers. The Turks believed that these items could be needed by the deceased in the afterlife and that these items would protect him by giving him strength.
It is known that the place of women in the Turkish family and state traditions is more important than in other societies. For this reason, not only important men but also women from the ruler's family and warrior women were buried in kurgan-type graves. Although the conversion of the Turks to Islam and their spread to a wide geography created some differences in burial traditions, the graves did not lose their basic understanding of being a transition between the two worlds and continued to be organized and implemented according to Islamic rules. In terms of architecture, floral motifs were mainly used in the decorations of monumental women's graves that bear the characteristics of their period.
In this study, the Karahanlı Period Ayşe Bibi, Timurid Period Saray Mülk Hanım, Mughal Period Taj Mahal (Mümtaz Mahal), Anatolian First Principalities Period Mama Hatun and Ottoman Period Nakşıdil Sultan graves, which are the continuation of the kurgan tradition in the Turkish people, were selected. These grave structures were examined in terms of plan, building material, construction technique and decorative features.