Grave stone

“ Numerous gravel-walks, winding through shady avenues and between marble monuments, lead up from the principal entrance to a chapel on the summit. There is hardly a grave that has not its little inclosure planted with shrubbery; and a thick mass of foliage half conceals each funeral stone. The sighing of the wind, as the branches rise and fall upon it,--the occasional note of a bird among the trees, and the shifting of light and shade upon the tombs beneath, have a soothing effect upon the mind ”

“ It is true that a stone is only a stone, whatever it may have been used for, but a peculiar sanctity is in most minds associated with the grave, and we ought not to run the risk of shocking tender-hearted people by degrading even the dead memorial of the dead to profane and secular purposes. And yet, what has become in too many cases of the [pg 75] old gravestones? The very old ones we may perhaps account for, but where are the middle-aged ones of the eighteenth century? ”

“ In the cemetery of Père-Lachaise, in the vicinity of the common grave, far from the elegant quarter of that city of sepulchres, far from all the tombs of fancy which display in the presence of eternity all the hideous fashions of death, in a deserted corner, beside an old wall, beneath a great yew tree over which climbs the wild convolvulus, amid dandelions and mosses, there lies a stone. That stone is no more exempt than others from the leprosy of time, of dampness, of the lichens and from the defilement of the birds. The water turns it green, the air blackens it. ”

“ On removing the effigy and stone table for repair, the grave of stone courses appeared perfect; the earth which covered the remains had sunk to the depth of several inches. On the surface lay fragments of hazel wands, or branches, such, probably, as pilgrims were accustomed to cut by the way, and suspend around the shrine, in token of zealous devotion. ”

“ Though your grave was neglected until the exact spot is no longer known, the stone, since raised near the place, is so often visited that, though it stands far from the path, a way to it has been worn in the grass by the feet of the many, who have come to breathe a sigh or drop a tear for poor Yorick. ”

“ The people whose relics are described here are called by the author the Stone-Grave race, because their dead were placed in cists or box-shaped graves built of stone slabs, and sometimes constructed with much care. A hundred or more of these graves are occasionally found, deposited in several tiers or layers, in a single burial mound. ”

“ We would then be unable to determine that a grave once there existed, and it is possible—I do not say probable—that such graves may have been made in times of extreme antiquity in the North or South, and that all of the softer substances and bones have disappeared. In that event, these graves of an early culture would not appear to us as graves, but as a small cache of rude implements. ”

“ Earlier [Pg 43] tombs built of brick were found, revealing a more ancient state of civilization, when men were ignorant of the ways of working stone, or found it too difficult to devote their energies to shaping stone to be built into a tomb. Going back and back, the brick tombs get smaller and smaller, until they disappear, and only the grave remains in which the dead lie doubled up. These were the things that years of work taught, but the earliest graves of all long eluded the eyes of modern workers. ”

“ It is not asserted that all our ancient stone monuments are of this character, but some, at least, of those which are claimed as “temples,” were primarily graves; hence they come under our survey. Here, too, it seems fitting to notice another matter, dependent to some extent on the orientation of graves, and illustrative of the persistency of unconscious folk-memory.
The modern sexton, having filled up the grave, banks up the surplus soil in the form of a long, neatly-finished mound. ”

“ It was soon found that the mounds were situated on a ridge of gravel, so that the tunnel had to take an upward direction. At the junction of the natural with the artificial soil, a cairn was found of closely compacted stones, each about as large as a man could lift. In the centre of the cairn the burial urn was found in the grave-chamber, containing calcined bones, ashes, fragments of bronze ornaments destroyed by fire, and a fragment of a gold ornament delicately wrought. ”

“ The following poem is written in allusion to a well-known usage formerly prevalent amongst the Celtic race, by whom it was considered a mark of honour to a deceased person to add a stone to the mound that was raised over the spot in which his remains reposed. Accordingly, his friends and followers made a practice of throwing a stone on his grave whenever they passed by, thereby gradually increasing the height and dimensions of the monument of the illustrious dead. ”

“ The Turkish and the Arab burial-grounds spread themselves at the feet of the Pillar: each grave is distinguished by a mound of earth and a stone. The piety of surviving relatives has, in some places, forced the stubborn sand to yield proofs of their affectionate remembrance of the deceased; occasionally, we see some single green plant struggling to shadow the last resting-place of one who slept below; and if any thing were wanting to add to the melancholy of the scene, it would have been the stunted and withering leaves thus mournfully enshrouding the silent dead. ”

“ Among the bones of the neck a single shell bead [Pg 50] was found; at the feet were ten stones or small bowlders, such as are common in the drift gravel. It is evident that this interesting tumulus was erected over the grave which was dug in the underlying gravel, and that the human bones placed in the burnt mass above the grave, with the few stone implements found in or on the mass, had some connection with the funeral ceremonies which took place in connection with the burial of the body in the pit below. ”

“ Grave d.—A small sepulcher, 11⁄2 feet square by 1 foot deep, contained the remains of an infant, also a few small shell beads. The slabs forming the sides and bottom of this grave bore very distinct marks of fire.
Grave e.—Simply a headstone and footstone, with the skeleton of a very small child between them; head east. On the wrists were some very small shell beads. The earth on the north and south sides had been hardened in order to form the walls.
Grave f.—Stone sepulcher, 6 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 11⁄2 feet deep, with stone in the bottom; skeleton with the head north. ”

“ If, on the other hand, the barrow contains no stone chambers, the grave itself must always be sought at the base of the barrow, and this is usually surrounded by a stone cist, or covered with a heap of stones. In this case we must, on no account, remove the stones at once, because the objects in the grave might easily be injured by so doing. With the view to obtain space for the investigation, the best plan is to enlarge the cavity as much as possible, and to take off the cover of the tomb as soon as the earth which lies upon it has been wholly put aside. ”

“ His grave is traditionally reported to be on that mountain, and to possess the same properties as the Expanding Stone, for it fits any person who lies down in it, be he tall or short. It has the further virtue of imparting extraordinary strength to any one lying in it; but if he gets into it with arms upon his person they will be taken from him and he will never see them more. ”

“ And under these higher tombs there is a medley of smaller grave stones, some of them much inclined to the ground, others completely turned over and lying flat, the higher monuments are not unlike venerable forms of olden patriarchs, beaten down and praying over grass-grown graves of thousands and thousands of men, long forgotten amongst their own people. ”

“ The circle in front would then represent the grave of a chief; the long stone, 40 yards in front, the grave of another of the "menu" people; and the circles and cromlech in front of the first line the burying-places of those who fell there. ”

“ The dead are buried lying down, face upwards, and placed north and south. The grave has a little thatched roof, about six feet by two, put over it. A stone, weighing twenty or thirty pounds, is put at the head, and a similar stone at the feet. ”

“ Grave-stones tell truth scarce forty years: generations pass while some trees stand, and old families last not three oaks. To be read by bare inscriptions like many in Gruter, to hope for eternity by enigmatical epithets, or first letters of our names, to be studied by antiquaries, who we were, and have new names given us like many of the mummies, are cold consolations unto the students of perpetuity, even by everlasting languages. ”

“ These graves seldom contain more than one skeleton, and mark the end of the Stone Age. Inhumation was practised throughout the period, though the bones found in the great graves are often marked by fire owing to the practice, apparently prevalent, of lighting fires in the grave chambers. The chambers are often full of remains up to within a foot of the roof, and in some cases parts of as many as a hundred skeletons have been found. ”

“ Some remarkable examples of tombs and graves containing burials by cremation have been discovered at the Bartlow Hills, at Colchester, at Uriconium, at Rochester, at York, at Chester, and in other places. The grave, or chest, was formed of wood, or tiles, or of stone. In this the urn containing the ashes of the dead was placed, and around it were put smaller vessels which probably contained ointments, balsams, and other offerings ”

“ The dolmen, or “stone-table,” a familiar prehistoric monument, has been replaced by the family vault and the altar-tomb, the ossuary of Brittany, the flat tombstone of the village graveyard, and the sarcophagus of the cathedral [660] . The cromlech, a circle of upright stone pillars, is by some believed to have been the forerunner of the temple and the round church [661] ; but this claim may be waived, as not fully proven (cf. p. 99 supra) . More plausible is the theory that the rude, unfashioned grave-stake is represented to-day by the humble wooden cross of our cemeteries [662] . ”

“ This mode of construction was adopted for encircling grave-mounds, and in the forming of hut dwellings, etc. It will easily be seen that in course of time the loose walled parts would be thrown down and disappear, while the uprights, being firmly fixed in the ground, would remain, and would thus form the stone circles as now seen, and as commonly called “Druidical circles.” In some instances, as in the case of the circle enclosing a perfect stone cist, covered by a mound, 76 at Sancreed, shown on fig. 71, the upright stones touched each other, and thus formed a remarkably fine enclosure. ”

“ At Aberdeen, the Granite City, few of the last-century gravestones are of any better material than the soft sandstones which must have been imported from Elgin or the south. The rule of initials was almost universal. In like manner, when it became the custom to purchase grave-spaces, the simplest possible words were employed to denote the ownership. I noticed one stone in Aberdeen bearing on its face the medallion portrait of a lady, and only the words of Isaiah, chapter xl. verse 6: "The voice said, All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field." ”

“ It is to the villages we should naturally go for primitive memorials of the dead, but in all the continental villages which I have visited memorials of a permanent character, either old or new, are scarcely to be seen. Occasionally a stone slab may be encountered, but almost always of recent date. At Laufen in the Canton of Zurich, near the Falls of the Rhine, I selected almost at random the examples of memorials shewn in my sketch (Fig. 96) , one or other of which was at the head of nearly every grave.
[pg 92]
1. ”

“ A young adult, lying in a contracted position, on its right side, in a shallow grave cut about six inches deep in the chert rock, with a stone placed on edge at the head, and another at the feet. 2. A young adult, lying on its right side, an upright stone at its head. 3. A middle-aged person, lying with the face upwards, and guarded by a large stone at its side. 4. The bones of a young hog, enclosed in a stone cist. 5. Remains of a cinerary urn and burnt bones. 6. Skeleton of an aged man, lying in a contracted position, on its left side, upon a thin layer of charred wood. ”

“ Several examples indeed of interesting fragments thus built into the walls of churches have been already noticed at different times in the Archæological Journal, and other publications.
These ancient grave-stones are interesting to us on several accounts: they seem to furnish decisive evidence that such memorials of the dead were in more general use at an early period, in some parts of the country at least, than is commonly supposed. ”

“ CHAPTER IV. Ancient British or Celtic Period—Sepulchral Chambers of stone—Cromlechs—Chambered Tumuli—New Grange and Dowth—The Channel Islands—Wieland Smith’s Cave, and others—Stone Circles—For what purpose formed—Formation of Grave-mounds—Varieties of Stone Circles—Examples of different kinds—Arbor Low, etc. ”

“ Three shell ornaments found in the northeastern part of the grave.
202-8184. Two dentalium shells found in the western part of the excavation. These were the only two found in the whole grave.
202-8185. Piece of copper found in the northwestern part of the grave.
Grave No. 18. Cremation circle situated 84 feet south of grave No. 14. This grave had possibly been rifled. The stone circle was 15 feet in diameter outside and 9 feet in diameter inside. The excavation was 2 feet, 6 inches to 3 feet 6 inches deep. Excavation 7 feet by 6 feet. Some fragments of human bones were found on the surface. ”