technology (Figs 8.2 and 8.3). Many of the Thracian tombs have corbel
vaults, applying various methods of narrowing the roof space by improv-
ing on traditional methods. Barrel vaults were thefirst true self-support-
ing domes, although the structural properties of this phenomenon were
not fully appreciated when they werefirst applied in funerary contexts.
Elsewhere we can detect common features within the same locality, which
suggests the development of specific local expertise, perhaps stimulated by
a particularly successful solution, as in the case of the corbel-vaulted tombs
at Kirklareli in Turkish Thrace, or the brick-built beehive tombs at
Koprinka, near Seuthopolis. Otherwise the most striking thing about
monumental graves is the fact that no tomb is much like any other.^8
The monumental elaboration of funerary structures makes them hard
to distinguish from cult buildings and perhaps this was a conscious
Fig. 8.2.Zhaba Mogila, Strelcha, view of the entrance to the tomb chamber. The
carved embrasure of the doorway has relief bands of egg-and-dart on the lintel
slab and around the lateral blocks, with a Lesbian kyma added just below the top
of the lintel slab.(^8) Archibald 1998, 282–303; Rousseva 2000; Kitov 2003a; 2003b; 2005; Delemen 2006.
Continuity and commemoration 301