A Tomb Dated by Trees
The largest burial mound at the ancient Phrygian capital of Gordion is a massive artificial hill, 53 meters high with a diameter of 300 meters. Known as Tumulus MM, or the "Midas Mound," it contains the oldest standing wooden building in the world. Inside the mound, a burial chamber measuring 6.2 by 5.15 meters was constructed around 740 BCE. The tomb's builders used black pine and juniper for the walls and a distinctive double-pitched roof, a design also seen in elite "megaron" buildings on the city's citadel mound.
The precise date of the tomb's construction was established through dendrochronology. By analyzing the tree-ring patterns in the ancient timbers, scientists established a secure timeline for the structure. This work, refined in 2001, placed the cutting date of the logs at approximately 740 BCE. This date definitively shows the occupant could not be King Midas himself, who was active on the political stage decades later, around 709 BCE. The tomb is now believed to house the remains of his father, likely named Gordias.