Today we went to the archeological site of "Ventanillas de Otuzco" (300-800 AD), a prehistoric burial site, just outside Cajamarca. I was looking in the face of the source of all my heebie-jeebies.
John commented that the modern cemeteries in South America look a lot like this prehistoric one. What do you think?
Cementerio - Tulcan, Ecuador
Cementerio - Mompox, Colombia
Cementerio San Gabriel - Quito, Ecuador
Cementerio - Tulcan, Ecuador
Necropolis - Ventanillas de Otuzco - Cajamarca, Peru
Necropolis - Ventanillas de Otuzco - Cajamarca, Peru
Necropolis - Ventanillas de Otuzco - Cajamarca, Peru
IIRC, H. Katrina caused considerable damage to the above ground burial vaults used in Louisiana. http://www.flickr.com/photos/8126909@N08/4625887378/ We visited LA more than a decade ago. I faintly recall vaults in which the occupants shared the facility. The newest cadaver lays on a horizontal slab until it molders to bones. The bones are pushed to a vertical well at the foot end, leaving the slab free for a new cadaver. Google doesn't confirm this.
ReplyDelete@Ed, are you sure?! It sounds very gruesome. I thought that the whole idea of burial is to have private space to remain whole.
ReplyDeleteNo, not sure. As I said, Google hasn't helped me with this concept.
ReplyDeleteEd,
ReplyDeleteIn Lima we visited the Catacombs of San Francisco where over 70,000 bodies are buried. The guide said that that bodies were first deposited in a common vault, nine bodies per vault, until the flesh had decomposed. Then the bones were put into common pits, 10 meters deep and several meters across.
Photo (not mine as no photos were allowed) of the final pit here: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archivo:Lima_Convento_San_Fransisco_Catacombs.jpg