kurgan

/kʊəˈɡɑːn/

Etymology

From Russian Курга́н (Kurgán), from Russian курга́н (kurgán, “kurgan, burial mound”), from Turkic (compare Turkish kurgan (“fortress”)).

name

  1. An oblast of Russia in Siberia.
  2. A city, the administrative center of Kurgan Oblast, Russia. Originally called Tsaryovo Gorodishche (Russian Царёво Городи́ще n (Carjóvo Gorodíšče)) (1662-1782).

noun

  1. A prehistoric burial mound once used by peoples in Siberia and Central Asia.“The kurgans and the burials they contain are consistent with the early IE burial practices outlined above, and the late Lithuanian archaeologist Marija Gimbutas proposed that the kurgan peoples were in fact early Indo-Europeans.”