kurgan
noun
kur·gan ku̇r-ˈgän 
-ˈgan
-ˈgan : a burial mound of eastern Europe or Siberia
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Trifonov and his team suggest that the Maikop people who built the kurgan used the tubes to drink beer from a communal vessel. 
NBC News, 19 Jan. 2022 The straws, along with one of the beer vessels, were found at the Maikop kurgan, a prehistoric burial mound in the northern Caucasus in Russia. Ashley Strickland, CNN, 18 Jan. 2022 For the past four years, a joint Russian-Swiss team of archaeologists has been excavating a kurgan, or burial mound, in the Russian republic of Tuva in southern Siberia. Andrew Curry, National Geographic, 22 Sep. 2020 University of Sydney archaeologist Gino Caspari and his colleagues searched for Scythian burial mounds, or kurgans, in high-resolution satellite images of a 110 square kilometer (68.4 square mile) area of the Xinjiang province in northwestern China. Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica, 26 Dec. 2018 An ancient problem Looting is an old tradition on the steppe—as old as the oldest kurgans themselves. Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica, 26 Dec. 2018 The two apparent plague victims were buried together in a kurgan: a wooden chamber beneath a mound of earth. Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica, 12 June 2018 That group consisted of herders from the Asian steppes, whose skeletons and genes are known from their burial mounds called kurgans. Jared Diamond, New York Times, 20 Apr. 2018 The preliminary dig suggests the structure is the relatively undisturbed kurgan—a tomb of a Scythian prince. Mika Mckinnon, Smithsonian, 22 Jan. 2018 See More
NBC News, 19 Jan. 2022 The straws, along with one of the beer vessels, were found at the Maikop kurgan, a prehistoric burial mound in the northern Caucasus in Russia. Ashley Strickland, CNN, 18 Jan. 2022 For the past four years, a joint Russian-Swiss team of archaeologists has been excavating a kurgan, or burial mound, in the Russian republic of Tuva in southern Siberia. Andrew Curry, National Geographic, 22 Sep. 2020 University of Sydney archaeologist Gino Caspari and his colleagues searched for Scythian burial mounds, or kurgans, in high-resolution satellite images of a 110 square kilometer (68.4 square mile) area of the Xinjiang province in northwestern China. Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica, 26 Dec. 2018 An ancient problem Looting is an old tradition on the steppe—as old as the oldest kurgans themselves. Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica, 26 Dec. 2018 The two apparent plague victims were buried together in a kurgan: a wooden chamber beneath a mound of earth. Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica, 12 June 2018 That group consisted of herders from the Asian steppes, whose skeletons and genes are known from their burial mounds called kurgans. Jared Diamond, New York Times, 20 Apr. 2018 The preliminary dig suggests the structure is the relatively undisturbed kurgan—a tomb of a Scythian prince. Mika Mckinnon, Smithsonian, 22 Jan. 2018 See More Word History
Etymology
Russian, of Turkic origin; akin to Turkish kurgan fortress, castle
First Known Use
1889, in the meaning defined above
Geographical Definition
Kurgan
geographical name
Kur·gan ku̇r-ˈgan
-ˈgän
city on the Tobol River and the Trans-Siberian Railroad in southwestern Russia in Asia population 333,600