Cemeteries are burial places for humans, often located near places of worship. Prior to the 7th century, there were no established guidelines for disposing of human remains. Cemeteries fell out of popularity in the 18th century due to lack of space and disease outbreaks. They remain important for tracing ancestry and family history.
A cemetery is a geographic area established as a burial place for dead humans. It may have traditional headstones and headstones or be filled with unidentified remains with no identifiers on the graves. Cemeteries are traditionally located on or near a church or other building designated as a place of worship. Graveyard has been the more common term for cemeteries since the mid-1800s.
Prior to the 7th or 8th century, the bodies of deceased loved ones were disposed of in ways based on family tradition and religious beliefs. There were no established guidelines or generally accepted standards regarding the disposition of human remains. Furthermore, at this time there were no structures or buildings such as churches or chapels dedicated to worship.
Over the next several hundred years, as civilizations began constructing buildings dedicated to religious services, the practice of burying humans in specific areas affiliated with places of worship became popular. The common practice of the time was that deceased family members of the wealthy or members of the nobility were buried in crypts within religious structures or under buildings. Those of the lower social classes were forced to bury their loved ones in plots of land surrounding buildings, and cemeteries were created.
Inner crypts generally had signs bearing the name, dates of birth and death, and other personal details of the deceased. Many families had their coats of arms depicted on the crypts. It was common for generations to be buried in the same grave.
Not to be outdone by the rich and royalty, cemeteries proliferated. Depending on the family’s financial status, the markers ranged from simple wooden crosses to headstones hand carved by a local stonemason to reflect facts about the person buried in the plot. The local blacksmith was often hired to create a forged metal cross or other religious emblem to be placed on a grave.
In the late 18th century, cemeteries fell out of popularity for several reasons. The population of industrialized nations experienced tremendous growth and there was not enough space in the cemetery to accommodate everyone’s burial needs. Devastating outbreaks of deadly diseases and epidemics have often been traced to soil contaminants produced by inner-city cemeteries. These conditions have led to cemeteries being located in remote areas outside cities and the enforcement of embalming rules to discourage the spread of disease.
The world still has thousands of cemeteries. They are typically the first places historians go to trace ancestral roots and research family histories. The cemetery of a city or town is traditionally believed to be most likely the geographic center where the city was originally established.
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