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A gravestone or tombstone is a marker, usually , that is placed over a . A marker set at the head of the grave may be called a headstone. An especially old or elaborate stone slab may be called a funeral stele, stela, or slab. The use of such markers is traditional for , , , and , as well as other traditions. In East Asia, the tomb's is the focus for ancestral veneration and may be removable for greater protection between rituals. Ancient grave markers typically incorporated , especially details in stone . With greater literacy, more markers began to include inscriptions of the deceased's name, date of birth, and date of death, often along with a personal message or . The presence of a frame for photographs of the deceased is also increasingly common.

Use
The (plural: ), as it is called in an archaeological context, is one of the oldest forms of . Originally, a tombstone was the stone lid of a stone , or the coffin itself, and a gravestone was the (or ) that was laid flat over a . Now, all three terms ("stele", "tombstone" or "gravestone") are also used for markers set (usually upright) at the head of the grave. Some graves in the 18th century also contained to demarcate the foot end of the grave. This sometimes developed into full kerb sets that marked the whole perimeter of the grave. Footstones were rarely annotated with more than the deceased's initials and year of death, and sometimes a memorial mason and plot reference number. Many and have removed those extra stones to ease grass cutting by machine mower. In some UK cemeteries, the principal, and indeed only, marker is placed at the foot of the grave.

Owing to soil movement and on gentle slopes, older headstones and footstones can often be found tilted at an angle. Over time, this movement can result in the stones being sited several metres away from their original location.

Graves and any related memorials are a focus for and remembrance. The names of relatives are often added to a gravestone over the years, so that one marker may chronicle the passing of an entire family spread over decades. Since gravestones and a plot in a cemetery or churchyard cost money, they are also a symbol of wealth or prominence in a community. Some gravestones were even commissioned and erected to their own memory by people who were still living, as a testament to their wealth and status. In a , the very wealthy often erected elaborate within churches rather than having simply external gravestones. frequently offer similar alternatives to families who do not have a grave to mark, but who want a focus for their mourning and for . Carved or cast commemorative plaques inside the crematorium for example may serve this purpose.

Materials
A may follow national codes of practice or independently prescribe the size and use of certain materials, especially in a conservation area. Some may limit the placing of a wooden memorial to six months after burial, after which a more permanent memorial must be placed. Others may require stones of a certain shape or position to facilitate grass-cutting. Headstones of , and other kinds of are usually created, installed, and repaired by monumental masons. Cemeteries require regular inspection and maintenance, as stones may settle, topple and, on rare occasions, fall and injure people; or graves may simply become overgrown and their markers lost or .

Restoration is a specialized job for a monumental mason. Even overgrowth removal requires care to avoid damaging the carving. For example, ivy should only be cut at the base roots and left to naturally die off, never pulled off forcefully.

Many materials have been used as markers.

Stone
  • Fieldstones. In many cultures markers for graves other than enclosed areas, such as planted with characteristic plants particularly in northern Europe the , were natural , some and others decorated or incised using a metal . Typical motifs for the carving included a symbol and the deceased's name and age.
  • Granite. is a hard stone and requires skill to carve by hand. Modern methods of carving include using computer-controlled rotary bits and over a rubber stencil. Leaving the letters, numbers and emblems exposed on the stone, the blaster can create virtually any kind of artwork or epitaph. Granite is one of the most durable stones used for gravestones.
  • Marble and limestone. Both and take carving well. Marble is a recrystallised form of limestone. They are often chosen because of their appearance and light color. Air pollution, and especially the mild , slowly dissolves marble and limestone over time, which can make inscriptions unreadable. was a type of limestone commonly used in England; after weathering, fossiliferous deposits tend to appear on the surface. became popular from the early 19th century, though its extra cost limited its appeal.
  • Sandstone. is durable, yet soft enough to carve easily. Some sandstone markers are so well preserved that individual chisel marks are discernible, while others have and crumbled to dust. Delamination occurs when moisture gets between the layers of the sandstone. As it freezes and expands the layers flake off. In the 17th century, sandstone replaced field stones in . was a common sandstone material used in England.
  • Slate. can have a pleasing texture but is slightly porous and prone to delamination. Slate was commonly used by colonial New England carvers, especially in Boston where elaborate slate markers were shipped down the Atlantic coast as far south as Charleston and Savanah. It takes lettering well, often highlighted with white paint or .
  • Schist. was a common material for grave making in the American colonies during the 17th and 18th centuries. While harder to carve than sandstone or slate, lettering and symbols usually had to be carved deeper into the stone and therefore held up well over long periods of time. While not as durable as most slate, most have held up well against the elements.

File:Maymūnah Stone, Gozo Museum of Archaeology, Victoria, Gozo 001.jpg|The Maymūnah Stone, a tombstone with an Arabic inscription dated 1174 on a reused Roman marble block. Now exhibited at the Gozo Museum of Archaeology in . (2000). "Histories of Malta, Volume 1" . Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti. . pp. 9–11. File:008-Josiah Leavitt (d. Dec 19th, 1717) grave, Hingham Center Cemetery, Hingham, Plymouth Co., MA.jpg|Slate gravestone of (1679–1717), Hingham Center Cemetery, Hingham, Plymouth County, Massachusetts File:Jewish cemetery Otwock Karczew Anielin IMGP6721.jpg|Slate vestige of a Jewish gravestone depicting a . in (Karczew-Anielin), Poland. File:GravestoneWormshill.JPG|Gravestone showing death date of 1639, , Kent, England File:MountScopusHeadstone2.JPG| HIS LAST MESSAGE: NO MORE WARS FOR MEA headstone in the British World War I Cemetery on File:Shebbear Devon gravestone.jpg|Elaborately carved grave slab at (Devon, England) showing a skull sprouting flowering shoots, as a symbol of resurrection File:Victorian headstones, England.JPG|Tottering Victorian headstones
in , in , England File:JosiahManningGravestoneMansfieldCT.jpg| tombstone dated 1795, carved by Josiah Manning in Mansfield CT

Metal, wood and plants
  • Iron. grave markers and decorations were popular during the in the and elsewhere, often being produced by specialist or the local . headstones have lasted for generations while often only survives in a rusted or eroded state. In eastern Värmland, Sweden, iron crosses instead of stones have been popular since the 18th century.
  • White bronze. Actually sand cast , but called white bronze for marketing purposes. Almost all, if not all, zinc grave markers were made by the Monumental Bronze Company of Bridgeport, CT, between 1874 and 1914. The company set up subsidiaries in Detroit, Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Des Moines; a Chicago subsidiary was named the American Bronze Company, while the St. Thomas White Bronze Monument Company was set up in Ontario, Canada. They are in cemeteries of the period all across the U.S. and Canada. They were sold as more durable than marble, about 1/3 less expensive and progressive.
  • Wood. This was a popular material during the and , and almost certainly before, in and elsewhere. Some could be very ornate, although few survive beyond 50–100 years due to natural decomposition or termites and other wood boring insects. In , the kopjafa is a traditional carved wooden grave marker.
    (2025). 9781903364796, Wallflower Press. .
    (1983). 9789631313598, Corvina Kiadó. .
  • Planting. Trees or shrubs, particularly roses, may be planted, especially to mark the location of ashes. This may be accompanied by a small inscribed metal or wooden marker.

Inscriptions
Markers sometimes bear inscriptions. The information on the headstone generally includes the name of the deceased and their date of birth and death. Such information can be useful to and . Larger cemeteries may require a discreet reference code as well to help accurately fix the location for maintenance. The cemetery owner, church, or, as in the UK, national guidelines might encourage the use of 'tasteful' and accurate wording in inscriptions. The placement of inscriptions is traditionally placed on the forward-facing side of the memorial but can also be seen in some cases on the reverse and around the edges of the stone itself. Some families request that an inscription be made on the portion of the memorial that will be underground.

In addition, some gravestones also bear in praise of the deceased or quotations from religious texts, such as " requiescat in pace". In a few instances the inscription is in the form of a plea, admonishment, testament of faith, claim to fame or even a curseWilliam Shakespeare's inscription famously declares

Or a warning about , such as this poetry carved on an ancient tombstone in the capital of . Robert Fisk: "An urge to smash history into tiny pieces" , 8 September 2007

Or a simpler warning of inevitability of death:

Headstone engravers faced their own "year 2000 problem" when still-living people, as many as 500,000 in the United States alone, pre-purchased headstones with pre-carved death years beginning with 19–.

carvings of a religious nature or of a profile of the deceased can be seen on some headstones, especially up to the 19th century. Since the invention of photography, a gravestone might include a framed or cameo of the deceased; photographic images or artwork (showing the loved one, or some other image relevant to their life, interests or achievements) are sometimes now onto smooth stone surfaces.

Some headstones use lettering made of white metal fixed into the stone, which is easy to read but can be damaged by ivy or frost. Deep carvings on a hard-wearing stone may weather many centuries exposed in graveyards and still remain legible. Those fixed on the inside of churches, on the walls, or on the (often as near the as possible) may last much longer: such memorials were often embellished with a . Irish geologist Patrick Wyse Jackson mused on gravestone legibility in 1993 with regards to the different types of stone available:

The choice of language and/or script on gravestones has been studied by as indicators of language choices and language loyalty. For example, by studying cemeteries used by immigrant communities,Doris Francis, Georgina Neophytu, Leonie Kellaher. 2005. The Secret Cemetery. Oxford: Berg. some languages were found to be carved "long after the language ceased to be spoken" in the communities.p. 42. Kara VanDam. 2009. Dutch–American language shift: evidence from the grave. LACUS Forum XXXIV 33–42. In other cases, a language used in the inscription may indicate a religious affiliation.

Form and decoration
Gravestones may be simple upright slabs with semi-circular, rounded, gabled, pointed-arched, pedimental, square or other shaped tops. During the 18th century, they were often decorated with (symbolic reminders of ) such as or winged skulls, winged cherub heads, heavenly crowns, or the picks and shovels of the . Somewhat unusual were more elaborate allegorical figures, such as Old , or of or , or even some event from the life of the deceased (particularly how they died). Large tomb chests, false as the actual remains were in the earth below, or smaller coped chests were commonly used by the as a means of commemorating a number of members of the same family. In the 19th century, headstone styles became very diverse, ranging from plain to highly decorated, and often using crosses on a base or other shapes differing from the traditional slab. By this time popular designs were shifting from symbols of death like Winged heads and Skulls to Urns and Willow trees. Marble also became overwhelmingly popular as a grave material during the 1800s in the United States. More elaborately carved markers, such as or also became popular during this time. Simple curb surrounds, sometimes filled with glass chippings, were popular during the mid-20th century.

Islamic headstones are traditionally more a rectangular upright shaft, often topped with a carved topknot symbolic of a ; but in Western countries more local styles are often used.

Some form of simple decoration may be employed.Snider, Tui. Understanding cemetery symbols: a field guide for historic graveyards. Castle Azle Press, 2017. Special emblems on tombstones indicate several familiar themes in many faiths. Some examples are:

Greek letters might also be used:

  • \Alpha \Omega ( and ): The beginning and the end
  • \Chi \Rho (chi ): The first letters spelling the name of Christ

Safety
Over time a headstone may settle or its fixings weaken. After several instances where unstable stones have fallen in dangerous circumstances, some burial authorities "topple test" headstones by firm pressure to check for stability. They may then tape them off or flatten them.

This procedure has proved controversial in the UK, where an authority's duty of care to protect visitors is complicated because it often does not have any ownership rights over the dangerous marker. Authorities that have knocked over stones during testing or have unilaterally lifted and laid flat any potentially hazardous stones have been criticised, after grieving relatives have discovered that their relative's marker has been moved. National Federation of Cemetery Friends Safety in cemeteries guidance Since 2007 and local authority guidance now restricts the force used in a topple test and requires an authority to consult relatives before moving a stone. In addition, before laying a stone flat, it must be recorded for posterity. Ecclesiastical Case Reports Re Keynsham Cemetery Gravestones

Gravestone cleaning
Gravestone cleaning can preserve gravestones and increase their lifespans. A gravestone can be cleaned to remove vandalism and graffiti, biological growth such as algae or , and other minerals, soiling, or staining. However, repairs, especially if they are too aggressive, can also remove natural signs of age or cause additional damage.

In the United States, the National Park Service has published guidelines for gravestone cleaning, which recommend careful and deliberate work using soft brushes and gentle cleansers, no more than once a year. An organization that advocates for and undertakes cemetery restorations recommends seeking permission to clean the grave marker from a "descendant, the sexton, cemetery superintendent or the town, in that order."

Image gallery
File:BuelowHeadstoneSep2003.jpg|Typical late-20th-century headstone, Dubuque, Iowa File:Gravestonesherrillia.jpg|19th-century marble headstone, Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church (Sherrill, Iowa) File:HNB-tombstone.jpg|Grave marker for Horatio Nelson Ball and father, Joseph Ball Jr., Grandville Cemetery, MI, US File:AnimalGraveTattonPark.jpg|Headstone for a dog, , , File:Phebe%26TimothyPeckGravestones.jpg|Winged skull & winged soul effigies, Morristown, NJ File:Grabstein Friedhofspark Freireligioese Gemeinde Berlin Prenzlauer Berg.jpg|Unconventional tombstone in the Cemetery Park of the "Freireligiöse Gemeinde" in , . Tree stump headstones in U.S. cemeteries are often associated with fraternal organization Woodmen of the World. File:SculptureGraveyardBerlinSchoeneberg1.jpg| Der Schlaf (The Sleep), 1907, sculpture by at the File:Free Mason Stone.JPG|A late-19th-century headstone adorned with the square and compass File:Radimlja, Nekropola2.JPG|Stećak tombstones in , burial practice of all religious communities until mid to late 16th century, probably spread through Vlach funerary practice File:Uchida Hyakken Grave.JPG|The grave of in , . The headstone is columnar, which is a particularly common configuration for headstones in Japan. File:Tombstone topped with orb symbol.jpg|Tombstone topped with orb symbolizing a celestial body and the reward of resurrection, churchyard of St. Peter's Church in the Great Valley, Malvern, Chester County, File:Six Pack Kinney.png|Personalized gravestone inscription, Berwick, PA

See also

Sources
  • (1993). 9780946172320, Town House and Country House. .

External links

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