06-19-2010, 07:20 AM
I have a feeling that this is old - very old. We know that humanity has marked graves since time immemorial. Some believe that Neanderthals marked graves in some fashion. Of course, these might have been rather simple: an upright stone, pile of rocks or perhaps even just a stick thrust in the ground. Eventually incisions could be the next step as a mnemonic system of sorts – something like “The X is Uncle Thag and the circle is Aunt Thagarella.” When writing developed then good old Thag could have his name written on his tombstone.
Just as an example of a non-Greco-Roman gravestone, here is one from Asia Minor that a researcher at the University of Chicago dates to the eighth century.
![[Image: 081118.soul1-352.jpg]](http://news.uchicago.edu/images/assets/081118.soul1-352.jpg)
As far as I know, the near-contemporary grave site at the Osteria dell’ Osa only had one possible use of a grave stone. A female inhumation grave was covered with a horizontal lava stone slab and had a vertical one next to her head. I’m a bit unclear if the vertical stone was visible above ground level. There were no markings mentioned by Sestieri.
Just as an example of a non-Greco-Roman gravestone, here is one from Asia Minor that a researcher at the University of Chicago dates to the eighth century.
As far as I know, the near-contemporary grave site at the Osteria dell’ Osa only had one possible use of a grave stone. A female inhumation grave was covered with a horizontal lava stone slab and had a vertical one next to her head. I’m a bit unclear if the vertical stone was visible above ground level. There were no markings mentioned by Sestieri.
David J. Cord
www.davidcord.com
www.davidcord.com
