Editing Cemetery (section)

==History==
===Palaeolithic===
The [[Taforalt]] cave in Morocco is possibly the oldest known cemetery in the world. It was the resting place of at least 34 [[Iberomaurusian]] individuals, the bulk of whom have been dated to 15,100 to 14,000 years ago.[https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2017.0264]

===Neolithic===
{{Main|Grave field}}
{{Further|tomb|necropolis|Funerary art}}Neolithic cemeteries are sometimes referred to by the term "[[grave field]]". They are one of the chief sources of information on ancient and prehistoric cultures, and numerous [[archaeological culture]]s are defined by their burial customs, such as the
[[Urnfield culture]] of the [[European Bronze Age]].[https://cadw.gov.wales/sites/default/files/2019-05/151214-neolithicresource-eng.pdf]

===Middle Ages===
During the [[Early Middle Ages]], the reopening of graves and manipulation of the corpses or artifacts contained within them was a widespread phenomenon and a common part of the life course of early medieval cemeteries across [[Western Europe|Western]] and [[Central Europe]].<ref name="Antiquity 2021">{{cite journal |last1=Klevnäs |first1=Alison |last2=Aspöck |first2=Edeltraud |last3=Noterman |first3=Astrid A. |last4=van Haperen |first4=Martine C. |last5=Zintl |first5=Stephanie |date=August 2021 |title=Reopening graves in the early Middle Ages: from local practice to European phenomenon |journal=[[Antiquity (journal)|Antiquity: A Review of World Archaeology]] |location=[[Cambridge]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |volume=95 |issue=382 |pages=1005–1026 |doi=10.15184/aqy.2020.217 |doi-access=free |eissn=1745-1744 |issn=0003-598X }}</ref> The reopening of furnished or recent burials occurred over the broad zone of European row-grave-style furnished inhumation burial, especially from the 5th to the 8th centuries CE, which comprised the regions of today's [[Romania]], [[Hungary]], the [[Czech Republic]], [[Slovakia]], [[Switzerland]], [[Austria]], [[Germany]], the [[Low Countries]], [[France]], and south-eastern [[England]].<ref name="Antiquity 2021"/>

===Early Christianity===
{{further|Christian burial}}
{{unreferenced section|date=February 2021}}
[[File:Saints_Innocents_1550_Hoffbauer.jpg|thumb|[[Holy Innocents' Cemetery|Les Innocents cemetery]] in 1550.]]

From about the 7th century CE, in [[Europe]] a burial was under the control of the [[Roman Catholic Church|Church]] and could only take place on [[consecration|consecrated]] church ground. Practices varied, but in continental Europe, bodies were usually buried in a [[mass grave]] until they had [[decomposition|decomposed]]. The bones were then [[Burial#Exhumation|exhumed]] and stored in [[ossuary|ossuaries]], either along the [[arcade (architecture)|arcaded]] bounding walls of the cemetery or within the church under floor slabs and behind walls.

In most cultures those who were vastly rich, had important [[profession]]s, were part of the [[nobility]] or were of any other high [[social status]] were usually buried in individual [[crypt]]s inside or beneath the relevant [[place of worship]] with an indication of their name, date of death and other biographical data. In Europe, this was often accompanied by a depiction of their [[coat of arms]].

Most others were buried in graveyards again divided by social status. Mourners who could afford the work of a [[stonemason]] had a [[headstone]] engraved with a name, dates of birth and death and sometimes other biographical data, and set up over the place of burial. Usually, the more writing and symbols carved on the headstone, the more expensive it was. As with most other human property such as houses and means of transport, richer families used to compete for the [[artistic]] value of their family headstone in comparison to others around it, sometimes adding a statue (such as a weeping angel) on the top of the grave.

Those who could not pay for a headstone at all usually had some religious symbol made from wood on the place of burial such as a [[Christian cross]]; however, this would quickly deteriorate under the rain or snow. Some families hired a [[blacksmith]] and had large crosses made from various [[metal]]s put on the places of burial.

===Modernity===

[[File:Cemetery overlooking the Danube, near Cernavodă, Romania.jpg|thumb|Cemetery overlooking the Danube, near [[Cernavodă]], Romania]]

Starting in the early 19th century, the burial of the dead in graveyards began to be discontinued, due to rapid population growth in the early stages of the [[Industrial Revolution]], continued outbreaks of [[infectious disease]] near graveyards and the increasingly limited space in graveyards for new [[Burial|interments]]. In many European states, burial in graveyards was eventually outlawed altogether through [[legislation]].

Instead of graveyards, completely new places of burial were established away from heavily populated areas and outside of old towns and city centers. Many new cemeteries became [[municipal]]ly owned or were run by their own corporations, and thus independent from churches and their churchyards.

In some cases, [[skeleton]]s were [[Burial#Exhumation|exhumed]] from graveyards and moved into [[Ossuary|ossuaries]] or [[catacombs]]. A large action of this type occurred in 18th century [[Paris]] when human remains were transferred from graveyards all over the city to the [[Catacombs of Paris]]. The bones of an estimated six million people are to be found there.<ref>"[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/paris-secret-underworld/ Paris' Secret Underworld] ". CBS News. September 27, 2004</ref>

An early example of a landscape-style cemetery is [[Père Lachaise Cemetery|Père Lachaise]] in Paris. This embodied the idea of [[Sovereign state|state]]- rather than church-controlled burial, a concept that spread through the continent of Europe with the [[Napoleonic Wars|Napoleonic invasions]]. This could include the opening of cemeteries by private or joint stock companies. The shift to municipal cemeteries or those established by private companies was usually accompanied by the establishing of [[landscaping|landscaped]] burial grounds outside the city (e.g. extramural).

[[Image:John Claudius Loudon.png|thumb|[[John Claudius Loudon]], one of the first professional cemetery designers.]]

In Britain the movement was driven by dissenters and public health concerns. The [[Rosary Cemetery, Norwich|Rosary Cemetery]] in [[Norwich]] was opened in 1819 as a burial ground for all religious backgrounds. Similar private non-denominational cemeteries were established near [[Industrial Revolution|industrialising]] towns with growing populations, such as [[Manchester]] (1821) and [[Liverpool]] (1825). Each cemetery required a separate [[Act of Parliament]] for authorisation, although the capital was raised through the formation of [[joint-stock company|joint-stock companies]].

In the first 50 years of the 19th century the population of [[London]] more than doubled from 1 million to 2.3 million. The small parish churchyards were rapidly becoming dangerously overcrowded, and decaying matter infiltrating the water supply was causing [[epidemic]]s. The issue became particularly acute after the [[cholera epidemic of 1831]], which killed 52,000 people in Britain alone, putting unprecedented pressure on the country's burial capacity. Concerns were also raised about the potential public health hazard arising from the inhalation of gases generated from human [[putrefaction]] under the then prevailing [[miasma theory]] of disease.

Legislative action was slow in coming, but in 1832 [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] finally acknowledged the need for the establishment of large municipal cemeteries and encouraged their construction outside London. The same bill also closed all inner London churchyards to new deposits. The [[Magnificent Seven, London|Magnificent Seven]], seven large cemeteries around London, were established in the following decade, starting with [[Kensal Green Cemetery|Kensal Green]] in 1832.<ref>{{cite book |title=London Cemeteries: An Illustrated Guide and Gazetteer |last=Meller |first=Hugh |publisher=Avebury |location=[[Amersham]] |year=1981 |isbn=978-0861270033 }}</ref>

[[Urban planning|Urban planner]] and author [[John Claudius Loudon]] was one of the first professional cemetery designers, and his book ''On the Laying Out, Planting and Managing of Cemeteries'' (1843) was very influential on designers and architects of the period. Loudon himself designed three cemeteries – [[Bath Abbey Cemetery]], [[Histon Road Cemetery, Cambridge]], and [[Southampton Old Cemetery]].<ref>Melanie Louise Simo (1988) ''Loudon and the Landscape'', p. 283.</ref>

The [[Metropolitan Burial Act 1852]] legislated for the establishment of the first national system of government-funded municipal cemeteries across the country, opening the way for a massive expansion of burial facilities throughout the late 19th century.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://beckettstreetcemetery.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21&Itemid=2|title=Friends of Beckett Street Cemetery|website=beckettstreetcemetery.org.uk|access-date=January 5, 2022|archive-date=January 5, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105092401/https://beckettstreetcemetery.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21&Itemid=2|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the United States, [[Rural cemetery|rural cemeteries]] became recreational areas in a time before public parks, hosting events from casual picnics to hunts and carriage races.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/03/our-first-public-parks-the-forgotten-history-of-cemeteries/71818/ |title=Our First Public Parks: The Forgotten History of Cemeteries |author=Rebecca Greenfield |website=[[The Atlantic]] |date=March 16, 2011 |access-date=November 20, 2021 |archive-date=November 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211120090836/https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/03/our-first-public-parks-the-forgotten-history-of-cemeteries/71818/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Cemeteries & Gravemarkers |chapter=12 Strange but Genteel Pleasure Grounds: Tourist and Leisure Uses of Nineteenth-Century Rural Cemeteries |doi=10.2307/j.ctt46nqxw.19 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46nqxw.19 |author=Blanche Linden-Ward |pages=293–328 |year=1989 |publisher=University Press of Colorado, Utah State University Press |jstor=j.ctt46nqxw.19 |isbn=9780874211603 |access-date=November 20, 2021 |archive-date=November 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211120091518/https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46nqxw.19 |url-status=live }}</ref>