"Tomb of King Midas", (Tumulus MM), Phrygian Valley, Türkiye.

October 11, 2022

Around Gordion (the capital of ancient Phrygia), there are more than 120 burial mounds or tumuli, most of which belong to the Phrygian period. Only 44 of them have been excavated until now. Undoubtedly, the most important of them is the MM tumulus with a height of 53 meters, overlooking all the others.

The original height should be around 70 meters. Its diameter, which is 300 meters now, was originally around 250 meters. It is the second largest tumulus in Anatolia after the tumulus of Lydian King Alyattes which was built almost 200 years after the MM tumulus. What is more important than the size of the MM tumulus is that it has come to the present day without being looted or damaged. MM tumulus is thought to have been built for an important Phrygian king.

As a matter of fact, it was named MM as the abbreviation of Midas Mound because it was named after the most famous king of the Phrygians. However, the latest dating studies indicate that this tumulus was built in 740 BCE which is too early for the great king Midas. Researchers suggest that the occupant of the Tumulus MM was the father of Midas.

It was first excavated in 1957 by the American archaeologist Rodney S. Young and his team. Similar to earliest Phrygian tumuli, there is a wooden tomb chamber covered with a mound of stone rubble, thick mantle of clay and earth to form the tumulus. Most of the findings of tomb chamber are currently exhibited in the Anatolian Civilizations Museum in Ankara.

The excavators dug a horizontal trench into the side of the mound, then tunneled through a double wall of tree logs and timbers to reach the inner chamber, the earliest known intact wooden structure in the world. The tomb chamber measured about 17 by 20 feet, with a nearly 11-foot-high ceiling; it had a cedar floor, walls of pine, and outer walls of juniper.

A body was resting inside the chamber in a unique log coffin. The skeleton of a king was lying on a thick pile of dyed textiles in what was left of his cedar coffin. The coffin was surrounded by the bronze bowls, serving vessels, wooden tables, and food remains from an extensive funeral banquet for more than 100 guests.

Among those funerary goods were three giant cauldrons (probably all used for beer), decorated with small figurines and 167 bronze bowls, ladles, and pitchers. Also found were 182 bronze fibulae, or garment pins, many likely left by the mourners as gifts; several bronze belts; and 14 wooden serving and dining tables.