Sickness and Death
Monument Typology and Grave Markers


General Definitions for Burial Places
Cairn
    A mound of stones erected as a memorial or marker.
Catacomb
    An underground cemetery consisting of chambers or tunnels with recesses for graves. The most celebrated catacombs are those near Rome, Italy. Cairo and Paris also have catacombs.
Cenotaph
    A monument erected honoring a dead person whose remains lie elsewhere.
Crypt
    An underground vault or chamber, especially one beneath a church that is used as a burial place.
Grave
1. An excavation for the interment of a corpse.
2. A place of burial.
Mausoleum
    A large stately tomb or a building housing such a tomb or several tombs.
Tomb
1. A grave or other place of burial.
2. A vault or chamber for burial of the dead.
3. A monument commemorating the dead.
Sepulcher
    A burial vault.
Vault
    A burial chamber, especially when underground.

Monument Typology
Any structure placed over a grave should be considered a monument, whether it be a large elaborate tomb or a small wooden marker. For simplicity sake, we are dividing monuments into three separate categories; tombs, crypts, &c.; gravehouses and graveshelters; and the smaller markers such as headstones and footstones.

Tombs &c.

Megalith Style Monuments
A very large stone forming part of a prehistoric structure. Sometimes used to describe a grave monument. Four large stones (one at each corner of a grave) then might be called a megalithic monument or structure.

Rectangular (Box) Shaped Burial Monuments

Box Shaped Monument, Blountville 
Tennessee

Box Tomb (Slab), Box Grave, Chest Tomb
Stone Tomb (Riprap with Slab Top)
Slot and Tab Tomb (Slab)
Table Tomb (With Ledger Stone Slab Top), Pedestal Tomb

Triangular Monuments (cairns)
Coffin Shaped Tomb (Ashlar)
Shaped Stacked Stone Tomb (Ashlar)
Shaped Stacked Stone Tomb (Ashlar)
Stacked Stone Tomb (in disrepair)
    (Providence Baptist Cemetery, Mississippi)
Step-Stone Tomb (Large Stone) (Ashlar)
Step-Stone Tomb with Headstone and Footstone
    (Fulton Bridge Cemetery, Alabama)
Step-Stone Tomb (Large Stone) with Coffin Shaped Top (Ashlar)
Step-Stone Tomb (Small Stone) with Headstone (Ashlar)
Tent Grave (Slab Tent with Headstone and Footstone)
Tent Grave (Slab Tent without Headstone and Footstone)

Ledger Stone

Ledger Stone (Slab with Headstone and Footstone)
Ledger Stone (Slab without Headstone and Footstone)
Coffin Shaped Ledger Stone
    (Fulton Bridge Cemetery, Alabama)
Ledger Stone (Slab without Inscription)

Gravehouses and Graveshelters
   (grave-box, grave-house, gravehouse, grave shed, grave shelter, lattice hut, spirit house)

Gravehouse (Wood on a Stone Foundation)
Grave Shelter (Wood)

Lychgate, lich gate



Usual Gravehouse Materials
Brick
Concrete, also called “Cement”
Field Stone (fieldstone)
Limestone
Marble
Native Stone
Sandstone
Soapstone
Wood

Grave Markers, Head Stone Types
  Common Architectural Arch Types

Common and not so Common Gravemarker Materials
Brick
Bronze
Cast Iron
Ceramic
Concrete, also improperly called “Cement”
Field Stone (fieldstone)
Granite
Limestone
Marble
Native Stone
Sandstone
Soapstone
White Bronze (zinc)
Wood

Common Marker Shapes
Roundtop
Column
Cross
Monolith
Monument
Obelisk
Pillar
Pyramid
Star of David

Foot Stone (footstone)
Head Stone (headstone)
Ledger Stone
Plinth (a base for a column, tomb, or gravemarker)
Stone
Table Stone
Tomb Stone (tombstone)

Epitaph

1. An inscription on a tombstone or grave marker, in memory of the one buried there.

    Samples:
Her spirit smiles from that bright shore
And softly whispers, “weep no more”
   Grave of Lockey M. Keaton (1843-1922)
   Providence Cemetery Warren Co. TN


Behold and see as you pass by
As you are now so once was I
As I am now you soon must be
Prepare to die and follow me

I bore the cross and layed it down,
Gone home to heaven to wear the crown
   Grave of Luther Vance Lance (1899-1918)
   Oak Grove Cemetery, Warren Co. TN


RIP; requiescat in pace; rest in peace;
Riposa in Pace.



Adornments for Tombs and Markers

Christian
Crosses
Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.)
Jewish
Masonic, (Free and Accepted Masons - F.& A.M.)
Memento Mori (Dark Memento)
A reminder of death or mortality, especially a death-head or an angel of death.



Hatchment
A diamond-shaped panel or escutcheon bearing the coat of arms of a deceased person. Occasionally seen carved on headstones.

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Page © 2002 Fred Smoot