Making Your Death Memorable: The Oldest Tombs We Can Trace To One Person

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged

Society & Culture, History

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 16 May 2019

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What are the oldest known tombs that can reliably be traced to a person? These are surprisingly tricky to track down. While archeologists constantly find human remains at an excavation site, there are almost never any identifying marks about the person. This is particularly true in the ancient world. Other than massive sites like the pyramids, we have little knowledge about the final resting places of famous figures. We don't even know the burial site of Alexander the Great -- the biggest celebrity in antiquity.

In this episode we talk about ancient tombs, crypts, mausoleums, and burial mounds. But more broadly, we look at how humanity's understanding of life, death, and commemorating those who passed away left behind more than tombs. It may be the reason for the rise of civilization itself.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the History Unplugged Podcast.
0:05.4	The unscripted show that celebrates unsung heroes, Mythbust's historical lies, and rediscoveres
0:11.9	the forgotten stories that changed our world.
0:15.5	I'm your host, Scott Rank.
0:18.9	Hey everyone, welcome to today's episode.
0:23.1	We have a question from listener Paul Frazier, and I'm always up for taking audience questions.
0:29.2	Paul submitted it by voice, which you can do if you go to History Unplugged Podcast.com
0:34.2	and there's instructions on how you can leave a voicemail like this.
0:37.1	All right, take it away, Paul.
0:39.0	What is the oldest extent tomb of a historical, famous person?
0:45.2	I know the tombs of Cleopatra and Alexander the Great have been lost, but is there a tomb
0:51.7	that we can go to that is verifiable as a historical person that is still in existence?
0:59.8	Thank you.
1:00.8	Well, Paul, thank you for that question about the oldest tomb that can be traced to a person.
1:06.2	Now I could just answer the question and give the name of that person, or maybe a few people
1:11.0	since it's a contested question, but that's not what I'm going to go for.
1:15.0	And if you know me, I like to give a super long explanation to a question like this, because
1:19.8	I don't want to just give one data point as if you're in middle school and you have to
1:23.4	cram for a test and you have to fart out a fact and then you immediately forget it once
1:28.0	you've memorized it.
1:29.6	Because with an answer to a question like this about the oldest tomb, there are lots of
1:33.4	questions behind the question.
	...

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