Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A type of tumulus or barrow characteristic of a culture located on the steppes of southern Russia about 5000 BC and later spreading to the Danube, northern Europe, and northern Iran from around 3500 BC.
  • noun The culture that produced these tumuli or barrows.
  • noun A member of the people or peoples sharing this culture. The earliest Kurgans are considered by some to be speakers of Proto-Indo-European.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A prehistoric burial mound once used by peoples in Siberia and Central Asia.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Russian, fortified place, grave mound, from Old Turkic kurghan, fortified place.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Russian курган (kurgan), from Turkic (compare Turkish kurgan ("fortress")).

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Examples

  • The word kurgan means "barrow" or "artificial mound" in Turkic and Russian.

    Archive 2007-05-01 2007

  • The word kurgan means "barrow" or "artificial mound" in Turkic and Russian.

    The Kurgan Hypothesis is... hypothetical 2007

  • January 11th, 2007 at 4: 56 pm it will never compare to the origianal. adrian paul is cool and all but chris lamburt and sean conor ruled and the kurgan was awsome and all the queen music. for its day highlander 1 ruled!

    Highlander: The Source - SciFiChick.com 2006

  • Though the site had been looted in antiquity, many artifacts survived, including those found within a single burial mound known as kurgan 1.

    At the Museums 2001

  • Watanabex says: say what? kurgan does that really exist?

    IRON MAN HAS A CROTCH 2008

  • But meanwhile, Reid sent me this story about a "new" mummy from a kurgan or burial mound in the Altai region of Mongolia.

    Archive 2006-08-01 2006

  • "Two horses with saddles and weapons and also vessels were also found in the burial mound, or kurgan."

    Mummies, Kurgans, Balbals 2006

  • But meanwhile, Reid sent me this story about a "new" mummy from a kurgan or burial mound in the Altai region of Mongolia.

    Mummies, Kurgans, Balbals 2006

  • "Two horses with saddles and weapons and also vessels were also found in the burial mound, or kurgan."

    Archive 2006-08-01 2006

  • The kurgan, about 69 feet in diameter, has been radiocarbon dated to 2500-2300 B.C.

    Cudgel Culture 2002

Comments

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  • In life Ghengis Khan dressed in ermine,

    For headgear - a tight proto-turban.

    We know not his clothes

    In deathly repose

    But know they’ll be found in a kurgan.

    October 20, 2018