Worth Reading

There's a good article about Mount Hope Cemetery, in Rochester, New York, at USA Today.

Watch Your Step

An amateur actress managed to find a previously unknown burial vault under the Church of St. Mary, in Redgrave, Suffolk. Here's the story.

Taking "Cold Cases" a Bit Far

Forensic examination of remains from the Medici Tombs has proven that Francesco I, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and his wife Bianca Cappello, died of malaria, just as their doctors said, and not from poison as the usual backbiters insisted. Here's the story.

A Nasty Case of Cemetery Vandalism

Someone painted swastikas on a number of gravestones at a British World War I cemetery in France. Here's the story. Among those buried there are Rudyard Kipling's son John, and the Queen's uncle, Capt. Fergus Bowes-Lyon.
To be honest, most Americans, prone to a dangerous combination of arrogance and ignorance, would be surprised by how many members of the Royal Family and their close relatives have been killed in action in the last century.

An Interesting Find

A thousand-pound, lead coffin has been found at the site of Gabii, near Rome. You'll find the story here, and here.

Vietnamese Mummies

Here's a good article at Thanh Nien News.

Politics of the Crypt

There's a good article at Der Spiegel about the Imperial Crypt in Vienna. Don't worry. It's in English.
BTW, the Austrians would be a lot better off if they booted out all the damn politicians and brought back the Habsburgs.

A Terrible Mess

The mausoleum of the Kings of Buganda, in Kampala, Uganda, was destroyed in a rather spectacular fire. Here's the story. There's a photo gallery at the BBC.

Unexpected Contamination

HERE'S an interesting item. It's been shown that microbes can deposit gold in the hair of corpses. Since that opens the possibility that they can do the same with other metals, that can present some interesting questions, not only for archaeologists, but for criminal investigators.

Hard Times for Funeral Profiteers

There's a good article in today's Toledo Blade ( A rare occurrence, I might add. ) about how the economic mess is causing trouble for the "funeral industry". No surprise there. Funerals have become everything Evelyn Waugh complained about in The Loved One. The whole "funeral home" experience is drastically overpriced and completely unnecessary. Let's go back to simple funerals, at home or in a church, and spend a bit more on a nice tombstone. Send the "funeral directors" to the unemployment line where they belong.

Archbishop Wichmann of Magdeburg

There's a good article, HERE, about the opening of the tomb of a 12th century Archbishop of Magdeburg. Good pictures.

Packaging the Cremains Doesn't Have to Be Boring

The LA Times has an interesting article on funerary urns as modern art. Put me in the one that looks like a gumball machine and I'll fucking haunt you. There's also a slide show. Number one's my favorite.

Grave News

There seems to be a hell of a mess at Arlington National Cemetery. HERE'S the story.

Grave News

THIS is interesting. There's a row in England over the fact that all the gravestones in the churchyard of Ripon Cathedral have been laid flat on their backs due to "health and safety issues". They have issues, alright. To me it's just another episode in the continuing saga of...........Anglicans gone bonkers.

Grave News

THIS is interesting. An archaeologist, who was a refugee from a smoking ban, at a pub in County Durham, found a seven-hundred year old grave slab built into a wall in a back corridor.

Grave News

Australian archaeologists believe they may have found the grave of outlaw Ned Kelly, of tin armor fame. HERE'S the story.