HistoryHistory and Variety of Gravestonesand Variety of Gravestones

Halloween derives from many age old traditions that originate from around the world. According to the staff at History.com, Halloween has a history of being a time of celebration and superstitions, many of which we still carry out today. They state that Halloween originates from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, “when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts”. November 1st was celebrated as the Celtic New Year as it was the mark of the end of summer and harvest, and the beginning of the cold dark winter – a time of year that was often associated with human death. “Celts believed that on the night before the New Year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred” and that on October 31st “the ghosts of the dead returned to earth” to create mischief and damage crops (History.com Staff, 2009). In an attempt to prevent the ghosts from causing trouble, many people would place large stones on burial sites to prevent the deceased from rising from the dead.

There are many theories as to how the practice of gravestones began, one of which being the previously mentioned Celtic practice to prevent the ghosts from rising and causing trouble. The most common theory is that stones were used to simply mark the burial sites. Ancient Romans would use headstones to tell the stories of heroic battles between the warrior and his opponent usually including the warrior’s name and title.

Early Scotland headstone history shows a 1798 fieldstone gravestone found in West Greenwich, CT USA. similar practice even describing the deceased occupation, for example picturing a hammer for a fallen craftsman. Before St. Patrick brought Christianity to the Irish, the Celtic headstones were History and Variety of Gravestones

simplistic and typically just a pile of stones or one large stone over the grave site. Afterwards, they usually featured a headstone shaped into what is now known as the Celtic cross.

Headstones gradually became more descriptive featuring different inscriptions based on the culture and time period in which they were in. According to the International Southern Cemetery Gravestones Association (ISCGA), “churchyard burials evolved involving large, square-shaped tombstones prepared from slate (1650-1900) or sandstone (1650-1890)” with inscriptions that are shallow, yet legible. The ISCGA also states that public cemeteries evolved in the 19th century as people started to give more importance to headstones, gravestones, footstones, etc. as a way to memorialize the dead.

There are many different types of stone used for gravestones throughout history. The earliest being field stones. As listed by Jonathan Appell in Gravestone Preservation Info, the most common stone types found in American graveyards are; slate (1650-1900), sandstone (1650-1890), marble or limestone (1480-1930), and granite (1860- current). Fieldstones are the earliest markers for graves, some were unmarked and others were inscribed using a metal awl typically consisting of the

deceased’s name and age. Slate was Elaborately carved grave slab at Shebbear (Devon, England) showing a skull sprouting flowering shoots, as a very popular in Boston, MA where the symbol of resurrection majority of the country’s gravestone carving took place from around 1660-1800. Slate has an appealing texture and takes lettering well, however is slightly porous and prone to erosion. Marble and limestone were “the stone of choice in antiquity” according to Appell who History and Variety of Gravestones

states that it was most desired in its purest white form, however both are “composed of calcium carbonate, therefore are adversely affected by acid rain”.

Sandstone is soft enough to carve easily, however still durable as many sandstone gravestones are still legible today. Although it is a durable stone, it is very susceptible to spalling and erosion. This is due to moisture getting into the stone’s layers causing pieces of the stone to

Example of a Sandstone Headstone flake off as the moisture freezes and expands. Finally, granite which is the most commonly used stone today, is a very hard stone that typically requires skill to carve resulting in today’s practice of using a laser or sandblasting.

This Halloween while you’re trick-or-treating or creating mischief, take note of the different gravestones you see. Remember how simplistic they started and how they evolved to be the elaborate industry they are today. It is fascinating all the things to be learned from headstones, the type of stone used tells us a lot about the region in which it is found as well as the time period. The stories told from inscriptions, from symbols to epitaphs, allow us to take a glimpse back in time. Slate gravestone of Mary “Mother” Goose