Kurgan is the Turkic term for a tumulus; mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves, originating with its use in Soviet archaeology, now widely used for tumuli in the context of Eastern European and Central Asian archaeology.

The word is ultimately of Turkic origin, more specifically from Tatar according to the Oxford English Dictionary, from a word meaning "fortress".

The distribution of such tumuli in Eastern Europe corresponds closely to the area of the Pit Grave or Kurgan culture in South-Eastern Europe.

Kurgans were built in the Eneolithic, Bronze, Iron, Antiquity and Middle Ages, with old traditions still active in Southern Siberia and Central Asia. Kurgan cultures are divided archeologically into different sub-cultures, such as Timber Grave, Pit Grave, Scythian, Sarmatian, Hunnish and Kuman-Kipchak.

A plethora of placenames that include the word "kurgan" appear from Lake Baikal to the Black Sea.

Kurgan barrows were characteristic of Bronze Age peoples, from the Altay Mountains to the Caucasus, Ukraine, Romania, and Bulgaria. Burial mounds are complex structures with internal chambers. Within the burial chamber at the heart of the kurgan, elite individuals were buried with grave goods and sacrificial offerings, sometimes including horses and chariots. Kurgans were used in the Ukrainian and Russian Steppes but spread into eastern, central, and northern Europe in the third millennium BC.

Gregory Widen is an American screenwriter and film director.

A student in UCLA's screenwriting program, he sold his script for Highlander while still an undergraduate. Before entering the UCLA program, Widen attended Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, California.

Widen worked as a firefighter for three years. He witnessed a person killed by an explosive backdraft, which became the basis for the screenplay for the movie Backdraft.

In 1995 he wrote and directed the supernatural thriller The Prophecy starring Christopher Walken.

Clarence J. "Clancy" Brown III (born January 5, 1959) is an American actor and voice actor. He is known for his roles in live action as The Kurgan in the cult classic film Highlander, Byron Hadley in the award-winning The Shawshank Redemption, Brother Justin Crowe in HBO's critically acclaimed Carnivàle, Career Sergeant Zim in Starship Troopers and the killer Steve in Shoot to Kill. Brown also works extensively as a voice actor in animated films and TV series, notably portraying Mr. Eugene H. Krabs in the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants and having portrayed Lex Luthor for longer and in more appearances than any other actor, voicing him throughout the DC animated universe and the film Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. He also voiced Raiden in Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, Gorrath in Megas XLR, Captain Black and Ratso in Jackie Chan Adventures, Vice-Principal Pangborn in All Grown Up, Otto in Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!, and Destro in G.I. Joe: Renegades.

Brown was born in Urbana, Ohio. His mother, Joyce (née Eldridge), was a conductor, composer, and concert pianist, while his father, Clarence J. "Bud" Brown, Jr., was an Ohio Congressman and chairman of the board of the Brown Publishing Company, the family-owned newspaper business started by Clancy's grandfather, Congressman Clarence J. Brown. He graduated from St. Albans School in Washington, D.C., and earned a scholarship to Northwestern University, where he became a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. He was inspired to become an actor by a neighbor who showed him Shakespeare's works.

Connor MacLeod, also known as The Highlander, is a fictional character in the Highlander film series, as well as the television programs Highlander: The Series, and Highlander: The Animated Series. In the films, he is portrayed by Christopher Lambert.

The character of Connor MacLeod is divided between many separate continuities; the original movie, each sequel, the television series, and the multiple animated series. Although varying from leading man to supporting character in each different continuity, Connor's importance to each continuity's story is not to be overlooked.

In the first three Highlander films, Connor MacLeod is the main character, and is officially the final Immortal. Highlander II and Highlander III pose different (and contradictory) accounts of Connor's life post-1985, but both hold to the original film's assertion that Connor is the "only one" remaining after the events of The Gathering.

Connor MacLeod was born in 1518 in Glenfinnan, Scotland near the shores of Loch Shiel. During a battle between the Clan MacLeod and the Clan Fraser in 1536, he faced an evil Immortal referred to as The Kurgan, and was dealt what should have been a fatal blow. When Connor did not die, the townspeople (including his family) believed his recovery was the work of witchcraft, and threatened to burn him at the stake. Connor's kinsman, and clan chieftain, Angus MacLeod, instead demanded that he only be banished. Connor wandered around the land until he met Heather MacDonald, the daughter of a blacksmith. The two fell in love, and married in 1539. In 1541, he met an Immortal named Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez, who became Connor's mentor and taught him the ways of Immortals, and of "The Game."

The Kurgan is a fictional character from the first Highlander film, portrayed by actor Clancy Brown. He is an Immortal and the main antagonist to the character Connor MacLeod in Highlander, and the latter's ultimate opponent in the Gathering.

The Kurgan's life story is fleshed out in several Highlander spin-offs in various media.

The Kurgan -whose birth-name remains unknown- was born in what is now Russia on the border of the Caspian Sea. His tribe, the Kurgans, Juan Ramírez notes, were infamous for their cruelty, and were known to "toss children into pits full of starved dogs, and watch them fight [for the] meat" for amusement.

In the year 1536, the Kurgan hired himself out to Clan Fraser in their battle with the MacLeod clan, in exchange for allowing him to be the one to kill Connor MacLeod. In the midst of the battle, the Kurgan challenged MacLeod. Before Connor could strike, he was run through with the Kurgan's claymore. However, Connor's cousins Angus and Dougal (along with other members of his clan) beat the Kurgan back, rescuing Connor from certain beheading. The Kurgan promised he would finish it, screaming: "Another time, MacLeod!!" Five years later, another Immortal, Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez, sought out the now fully Immortal MacLeod as the only hope of defeating the Kurgan. However, the Kurgan discovered this, and tracked them down to MacLeod's home. MacLeod was away, but Ramírez and Heather MacLeod, Connor's wife, were there. He battled Ramírez, who managed to slice Kurgan's throat (though not deep enough to behead him) before being impaled and decapitated himself; all while Heather watched. After taking Ramirez's Quickening, the Kurgan raped Heather and departed. MacLeod returned shortly after, narrowly missing his enemy.