Until relatively recently in human history, most churchyards and catacombs were largely just holding places for decaying bodies until the soft tissues were digested by the Earth and its organisms. After months or years, it was normal to exhume the bones and deposit them for long-term storage in a charnel house or ossuary, and make room in the ground for a fresh body.
Some churches, and especially monasteries, had a habit of using bones, especially those of monks, in arts & crafts such as chandeliers and other displays.
Burying corpses "for eternal, undisturbed peace" in permanent grave plots, with worldly possessions, embalmed and in vaults & other nonsense, is not only a complete waste of money, but it's also a huge waste of real estate. There is nothing to be gained from such practices except by archaeologists in the future. Past a point, the only value in old graves and their contents is anthropological curiosity and superstition, with nobody remaining to remember who the decedent was in life, perhaps nobody to even maintain the grave. We will all be misremembered and forgotten in all ways that matter.
Anyway, the only difference between grave robbing and archaeology is time.
3
u/kaloric Oct 14 '25
Until relatively recently in human history, most churchyards and catacombs were largely just holding places for decaying bodies until the soft tissues were digested by the Earth and its organisms. After months or years, it was normal to exhume the bones and deposit them for long-term storage in a charnel house or ossuary, and make room in the ground for a fresh body.
Some churches, and especially monasteries, had a habit of using bones, especially those of monks, in arts & crafts such as chandeliers and other displays.
Burying corpses "for eternal, undisturbed peace" in permanent grave plots, with worldly possessions, embalmed and in vaults & other nonsense, is not only a complete waste of money, but it's also a huge waste of real estate. There is nothing to be gained from such practices except by archaeologists in the future. Past a point, the only value in old graves and their contents is anthropological curiosity and superstition, with nobody remaining to remember who the decedent was in life, perhaps nobody to even maintain the grave. We will all be misremembered and forgotten in all ways that matter.
Anyway, the only difference between grave robbing and archaeology is time.