Unmarked grave
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An unmarked grave is one that lacks a marker, headstone, or nameplate indicating that a body is buried there.[1][2] However, in cultures that mark burial sites, the phrase unmarked grave has taken on a metaphorical meaning.
Metaphorical meaning
As a
Criminals
Conversely, a deliberately unmarked grave may signify disdain and contempt. The underlying intention of some unmarked graves may be to suggest that the person buried is not worthy of commemoration, and should therefore be completely ignored and forgotten, e.g., school shooters
Unmarked graves have long been used to bury
More recently, the practice has been to
After he was killed in 2011 as part of
Judaism
In
Other reasons for unmarked graves
However, disdain and contempt are not the only reasons why graves remain unmarked.
According to legend, Genghis Khan asked to be buried without markings or any sign, and after he died, his body was returned to Mongolia.
As Alicia Hoyt reports: "Historically, financial limitations and social status were factors in whether a person (even a famous one) was awarded a big fancy marker. Mass, unmarked graves were also common in times of widespread disease or war; plus older markers simply deteriorated over time or were stolen. Another reason might be: other gravesites reflect the wishes of the deceased or family members who simply don't want a marker, can't decide on wording, or plan to add one down the line when a loved one passes away and joins them in the plot."[5][6][1]
Additionally, "modern celebrity concerns" may be related to a desire for privacy or to avoid vandalism.[1] For example, basketball player Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, singer Michael Jackson, businessman and Apple's Founder Steve Jobs, actor George C. Scott, musician Frank Zappa, singer Roy Orbison, comedian John Belushi, and writer H. P. Lovecraft (discussed below) are notable people whose burial sites have been left unmarked (or marked deceptively) for reasons that are not financial.
In cases when a person's remains are lost, a cenotaph may be erected. This is what happened to comedian John Belushi. The gravestone at his grave in a Martha's Vineyard cemetery was removed and relocated, after operators of the cemetery found many signs of vandalism and rowdiness, where his body lies. In response, a cenotaph gravestone was erected at a nearby empty grave, to deter disrespectful visitors, leaving his actual final resting place without a marker. Another Belushi cenotaph gravestone was erected by his family in a Chicago area cemetery, at the Belushi family plot, where his parents are now buried.[citation needed] Similarly, when H. P. Lovecraft's headstone in Providence, Rhode Island was stolen, a replacement marker was erected in a different location.[citation needed]
Deceased monarchs and princes of Saudi Arabia are buried in unmarked graves in the public Al Oud cemetery in Riyadh. There is also typically no state funeral or national show of mourning. The Wahhabi sect of Sunni Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia considers public shows of grief or memorials to the dead to be un-Islamic, and therefore the royal family typically practices austere, private burials.[7]
See also
References
- ^ a b c Hoyt, Alia. "Entertainment: 10 Famous People Buried in Unmarked Graves". How Stuff Works. Archived from the original on 2016-05-20. Retrieved 2016-05-30.
- ^ "Using radar to find unmarked graves". Mysa. May 2, 2011. Archived from the original on May 31, 2016. Retrieved May 30, 2016.
- ^ "The Location of Adam Lanza's Body, Like Most Mass Shooters, Is Unknown". ABC News. Archived from the original on 2020-11-11. Retrieved 2020-06-29.
- ^ "Jimmy Savile's headstone removed from Scarborough cemetery". Archived from the original on 2022-03-26. Retrieved 2018-07-01.
- ^ "Locating Unmarked Graves". Texas Historical Commission. Archived from the original on September 11, 2015. Retrieved November 18, 2013.
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: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Binkovitz, Leah (December 25, 2013). "The "Bone Finder" uses ground-penetrating radar to find lost graves at Congressional". Washington Post. Archived from the original on August 8, 2016. Retrieved May 30, 2016.
- ^ "Analysis: The Saudi way of death". BBC Online. 3 August 2005. Archived from the original on 28 August 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2018.