Hot take: Were burial mounds just ancient status symbols or something more practical?

I was reading about a dig in Siberia where they found 200 burial mounds from 4,000 years ago. The number surprised me because I thought these things were rare, but turns out there are clusters of them. One side argues they were purely for showing off rank with imported goods. The other side says they doubled as territorial markers or even flood refuges. Which camp do you lean toward and why?

2 comments

2 Comments

richard11012d ago

You ever notice how a lot of old cultures built the same kind of structures? I lean toward them being status symbols mostly, just based on how much work went into them. The imported goods found inside are a dead giveaway that someone had pull in the community. But I can see them doubling as landmarks too, especially in Siberia where the landscape is flat and you need something to navigate by.

ellis.jennifer11d ago

Did your friend ever get lost out there? My buddy Sam drove through Wyoming once and swore those old grain silos were the only reason he found the highway again after a blizzard hit. He said the whole sky went white and everything looked the same, but he could just barely make out the top of one through the snow. They're not fancy like the pyramids but I guess they still do the same job for folks who need them.