A Monumental Hellenistic Funerary Ensemble at Callatis on the Western Black Sea: The Documaci Tumulus: Volume I

A Monumental Hellenistic Funerary Ensemble at Callatis on the Western Black Sea: The Documaci Tumulus: Volume I 

edited by Valeriu Sîrbu, Maria-Magdalena Ștefan and Dan Ștefan. 

Paperback; 205x290mm; 342 pages; 191 figures, 20 tables. 757 2021. Available both in print and Open Access. Printed ISBN 9781789694369. Epublication ISBN 9781789694376.
 

A Monumental Hellenistic Funerary Ensemble at Callatis on the Western Black Sea presents one of the most spectacular early Hellenistic funerary monuments, recently excavated on the western Black Sea coast by a Romanian-Bulgarian-Polish interdisciplinary research team. Documaci Tumulus, covering a painted tomb, and marked by a monumental statue, was built at the threshold of the 4th to 3rd centuries BC in the cemetery of the Greek City of Callatis. The sophisticated construction techniques and the remains of commemorative rituals attest to the dynamic political arena of the Diadochi wars in the Black Sea area and offer a glimpse into a complex and interconnected world of Hellenistic architects and artists. The monument will fuel discussions about the mechanisms of ritualised identity expression in mixed cultural environments, functioning under the pressure of political change, or about community membership, symbolic discourse and ancestors— all reflected in ‘le jeu des miroirs’ of the funerary practices.

About the editors
Valeriu Sîrbu is a senior archaeologist of the second Iron Age with more than forty years of experience. His main contributions are in the archaeology of ritual, magic, human and animal sacrifices, and sacred places and fortifications in Pre-Roman Dacia. ;

Maria-Magdalena Ștefan is an archaeologist dealing with tumuli graves in the Lower Danube area, Hellenistic tomb architecture and decoration, multi-cultural interactions in border zones and ancient identities. ;

Dan Ștefan is an archaeologist and geophysicist and an experienced analyst of archaeological landscapes with non-invasive methods, including LiDAR and aerial prospection. He has worked at more than one hundred archaeological sites in Romania, the Republic of Moldavia, Bulgaria and Greece.

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