Visual Timeline: Tomb

To navigate the timeline, click and drag it with your mouse, or click on the timeline overview on the bottom.

6000 BCE 5500 BCE 5000 BCE 4500 BCE 4000 BCE 3500 BCE 3000 BCE 2500 BCE 2000 BCE 1500 BCE 1000 BCE 500 BCE 0 CE 500 CE  
 
 
6000 BCE: Burial of the dead in Egypt.
 
6000 BCE: Earliest Egyptian mastabas dug at Saqqara.
 
 
5000 BCE: Dead buried with grave goods at Banpo Village, China.
 
 
4300 BCE: First megalithic tombs in Europe.
 
 
4000 BCE: Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery begins in Sligo, Ireland.
 
 
3300 BCE: Early Harappan Civilization of India practices burial of the dead.
 
 
3300 BCE: Newgrange Burial Mound constructed in Ireland.
 
 
3000 BCE: Stone tombs on Crete.
 
 
3000 BCE: Tomb of the Eagles created in Scotland.
 
 
3000 BCE - 2800 BCE: Maeshowe Passage Grave completed in Scotland.
 
 
3000 BCE - 2000 BCE: First rock-cut burial chambers at Akrotiri.
 
 
2600 BCE: Mayan Culture buries their dead individually under homes.
 
 
2600 BCE - 2000 BCE: The Royal Graves of Ur used in Sumer.
 
 
2560 BCE: The Great Pyramid of Giza is constructed by Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops).
 
 
2500 BCE - 2000 BCE: The Balnuaran of Clava (Clava Cairns) is built.
 
 
1700 BCE - 1600 BCE: First shaft graves constructed at Mycenae.
 
 
1500 BCE: First tholos tombs built at Mycenae.
 
 
1250 BCE - 1200 BCE: Mycenaean chamber tombs constructed at Thebes.
 
 
1100 BCE: Greeks implement use of individual tombs and graves.
 
 
700 BCE: Tomb of Mayan King K'utz Chman of Retalhuleu constructed in Guatemala.
 
 
680 BCE - 660 BCE: The Etruscan Regolini-Galassi Tomb is constructed at Cerveteri.
 
 
530 BCE - 520 BCE: The Etruscan Tomb of the Lionesses is constructed at Tarquinia.
 
 
210 BCE: First Emperor of China Shi Huangdi dies, buried with army of 8,000 terracotta warriors in palace tomb.
 
 
206 BCE: The Emperor Shi Huangti is buried with a terracotta army of more than 8,000 soldiers in a palace tomb.
 
750 CE - 800 CE: The subterranean llama-shaped royal tomb is constructed at the Wari city of Pikllacta.
 
770 CE: Last recorded use of Clava Cairns site in antiquity.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
6000 BCE 5000 BCE 4000 BCE 3000 BCE 2000 BCE 1000 BCE 0 CE