Grave Mound (2012)

From the Introduction:

Numerous symmetrical hills dot the landscape, covered in layers of soft moss and grass. Few of them have been dug up and defiled by grave robbers, but one was designed quite different from the start. Here a wedge has not been filled with earth, leaving a clear path covered with fine glittering sand down to the doorway leading inside. In addition at the very top of the hill a skylight of sorts has been incorporated into the structure, allowing a shaft of light to fall into the otherwise dark interior.

While the grave chamber in any other mound, covered with tons of dirt, might be constructed from whatever stones were available this one has been built from finely cut and hewn sandstone in its entirety. The floor of the interior, mostly dark despite the skylight, is structured into several levels of slightly different elevation. The lowest step between the slightly elevated ledge running around the room and the raised platform at the centre has filled with surprisingly clear water over the years.

What few people realize, seeing the chamber ever only as it is at one time, that this structure was never built as an ordinary grave to begin with. Rather its is some kind of ritual chamber with the skylight serving as a sundial of sorts. The spot on the floor where the light from above falls indicating the passage of months and seasons as well as the hours of the day.