History
Researched by: Taylor
Hockersmith © 2007
The first
burial customs began in prehistoric times, where early humans would drop the
dead into a hole and cover it with a stone. Some of the dead's possessions may
have been placed with the body. Some burials during this time were accidental;
if a hunter was wounded his companions would put him in a cave and seal it. If
the hunter recovered, he was supposed to move the stones and climb out. Sometimes he would die in the cave, an interesting find for those who study
prehistoric humans. Prehistoric humans also might purposely bury their dead in a
shallow hole with a heavy stone to prevent the dead from coming back to life.
Saxons, which were skilled at digging, buried their dead. The more important the
person, the more dirt was piled on top of their grave. These graves were called
barrows.
Some of the earliest tombs were made in
Egypt, China, and Rome. In Egypt, the
dead were wrapped in linen and the pharaohs were buried in huge pyramids.
In the Middle ages and Victorian times, the dead were buried just around the
churches. This caused many problems, however. First, these burial plots had
limited space, causing the churches to sell the graves multiple times. Any
number of corpses might be buried together in a hole only a few feet deep. After
the bodies were stuffed into the shallow holes, plagues rose through the soil
and infected most people going to mass and the children playing in the areas
around
the
churches. Also, before burial, the valuables were often stolen off the body.
 Later laws were passed
making it illegal to bury bodies less than six feet under the soil, but not
after thousands of people were killed from the spreading plagues. Tombstones
were first used in this time, most of which depicted death and skeletons. Some
time after the law was passed, body snatchers began stealing bodies from their
graves to be used in medical research. These people had found a loophole in the
laws, and what they did was not officially illegal.
The church yards quickly filled and the dead were buried in areas just outside
the cities. As cities expanded, the cemeteries would end up in the middle of
cities as an area where nature could flourish.
Citations:
GAzis-SAx, Joel. "A brief history of cemeteries." City Of the Silent.
1995, 1996. 30 Jan 2007 <http://www.alsirat.com/silence/history.html>
Morgan, George. "Along those Lines: Cemetery Iconography." Ancestry.com.
23 July, 1999. Genealogy forum on America OnLine. 30 Jan 2007
http://www.ancestry.com/columns/george/07-23-99.htm.
Team 16665. "A brief history of cemeteries." Thinkquest.
30 Jan 2007
<http://library.thinkquest.org/16665/cemeteries.htm>.
Miller, Eric. "Cemetery Dynamics." www.daddezio.com. 15 March 2000.
Daddezio.com. 30 Jan 2007 <http://www.daddezio.com/cemetery/trail/history.html>.
"Cemeteries." Chicora. www.chicora.org. 30 Jan 2007
<http://www.chicora.org/cemeteryFAQ.htm>.
Taylor, Troy. "Grave Markers and Tombstones."
From Beyond the Grave. 2000. 30 Jan 2007 <http://www.prairieghosts.com/grave_symbols.html>.
"Old Cemetery". Online Image. Italian Cemetery. January 30 2007.
<http://www.italiancemetery.com/(17)ic_angel_ground.htm>
"Church and tombstones" Online Image. January 30 2007.
<heuser.pro.br/showmap.
php?cemeteryID=3>
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