Tumulus MM

Tumulus MM, also called the Midas Mound, is a massive earthen burial mound at Gordion, the ancient capital of the Phrygian kingdom in central Anatolia, southwest of modern Ankara. Rising about 53 meters, it is the largest of more than 120 tumuli surrounding the site and was built, according to tree-ring dating, around 740 BCE. Despite its popular name, archaeologists believe the mound was raised not for King Midas himself but for his father, since Midas is recorded in Assyrian sources decades later; the construction of such an imposing monument is thought to have been Midas's own tribute to his predecessor. Inside, excavators found a timber burial chamber holding a wooden coffin, bronze vessels and cauldrons, carved wooden furniture, and the remains of an elaborate funerary feast, among the best-preserved Iron Age royal burials ever uncovered in Turkey. The tomb's contents are now displayed in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara.