Burial Ground

burial ground

[′ber·ē·əl ‚grau̇nd]

(nucleonics)

A place for burying unwanted radioactive objects to prevent escape of their radiations, the earth acting as a shield. Also known as graveyard.

Burial Ground

 

in archaeology, a place for the burial of the dead. Ancient Greek and Roman burial grounds are usually called necropolises, and Christian and Moslem places of burial, cemeteries. The first burials of the dead appeared in the Paleolithic period; however, at that time, they were performed directly at the habitation sites rather than in places set aside for that purpose.

Actual burial grounds appeared in the Mesolithic. Burials were performed according to established funerary rites, which were connected with the culture’s conception of the afterlife. Various objects (“grave goods”) were placed in the grave with the deceased; such as clothing, weapons, ornaments, household vessels and utensils, food, and the carcasses of sacrificed animals. Sometimes, persons dependent on the deceased were sacrificed and buried in the same grave with the deceased (for example, at Kul’-Oba and in the Melitopol’ Kurgan).

Two types of burials are distinguished in burial grounds: inhumation and cremation. In the latter the deceased was burned and the ashes then buried. The burial structures that were used at different times by different tribes and peoples are infinitely varied, for example, simple earthen pits, pits lined with wood or stone, catacombs, vaults, and huge burial structures, such as pyramids and mausoleums. The dead or their ashes were buried in vessels (urns), cists, or wooden frames. According to external appearance, burial grounds are usually divided into barrow burial grounds, which are marked by mounds of earth or stone, or flat-grave burial grounds (without mounds). Burial grounds with both barrows and flat graves are also encountered.

The archaeological study of a burial ground yields a wealth of material not only about an ancient population’s religious beliefs but also about other aspects of its life, including the material culture, everyday life, the economy, production and trade, family and social relationships, and art. In addition, excavations of burial grounds supply material for paleoanthropology and provide museums with ancient fully preserved objects, which are seldom encountered in investigations of settlements.

D. B. SHELOV

Burial Ground

Aceldama

potter’s field; burial place for strangers. [N. T.: Matthew 27:6–10, Acts 1:18–19]

Alloway graveyard

where Tam O’Shanter saw witches dancing among opened coffins. [Br. Lit.: Burns Tam O’Shanter in Benét, 985]

Arlington National Cemetery

final resting place for America’s war heroes. [Am. Hist.: Flexner, 95]

Boot Hill

Tombstone, Arizona’s graveyard, where gunfighters are buried. [Am. Hist.: Flexner, 178]

Campo Santo

famous cemetery in Pisa, with Gothic arcades and Renaissance frescoes. [Ital. Hist.: Collier’s, XV, 433]

Castel Sant’Angelo

built in Rome by Hadrian as an imperial mausoleum. [Rom. Hist.: Collier’s, XVI, 539]

Catacombs of St. Calixtus

in Rome, one of the largest of subterranean burial places, with eleven miles of galleries. [Ital. Hist.: Collier’s, IV, 458]

Escorial

former monastery in central Spain; mausoleum of Spanish sovereigns. [Span. Hist.: NCE, 890]

Flanders Field

immortalized in poem; cemetery for WWI dead. [Eur. Hist.: Jameson, 176]

Gettysburg

site of Civil War battle; cemetery for war dead. [Am. Culture: EB, IV: 515]

God’s Acre

Moravian graveyard in Winston-Salem, N.C., with 3,000 identical marble markers. [Am. Hist.: Collier’s, XIX, 471]

Grant’s Tomb

New York City burial place of General Ulysses S. Grant. [Am. Culture: EB, IV: 680]

Great Pyramid of Cheops

enormous Egyptian royal tomb. [World Hist.: Wallechinsky, 255]

Holy Sepulcher Jerusalem

cave where body of Jesus is said to have lain. [Christ. Tradition: Brewer Dictionary, 814]

Machpelah

cave where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob are buried. [O.T.: Genesis 23:19, 25:9, 49:30, 50:13]

potter’s field

burial ground purchased with Judas’s betrayal money. [N.T.: Matthew 27:6–8]

Stoke Poges

village whose churchyard is thought to be the scene of Gray’s “Elegy.” [Br. Lit.: Benét, 966]

Taj Mahal

fabulous tomb built by Shah Jahan for wife. [Ind. Hist.: Wallechinsky, 317]

Tomb of Mausolus

Queen Artemisia’s spectacular memorial to husband. [World Hist.: Wallechinsky, 256]

Tomb of the Unknowns

in Arlington National Cemetery; commemorates nameless war dead. [Am. Hist.: Brewer Dictionary, 1118]

Westminster Abbey

abbey filled with tombs and memorials of famous British subjects. [Br. Hist.: EB, X: 632–633]