Skulls on grave stones?

Question

There were a lot of skulls and other symbols of death that were carved on grave stones in the 17th and 18th centuries but very little of that seems to happen these days.Has anyone seen any gravestones from the 21st century that have skulls or other death carvings on them?In which graveyards?

Answer 1

mine will be sick!!! i should start sculpting now!

Answer 2

The cemetery right up the street from me doesn't have skulls, but it does have something I've never seen anywhere else. They aren't from the 21st century, but they have been used within the past 100 years.

Some of the gravestones contain the words "Gone Home" with a hand underneath, the index finger pointed towards the sky (Heaven).

However, there is one gravestone in our cemetery that shows just the opposite. On a 34 year-old woman's grave are the same words, only this time the finger points down (Hell), and the wrist is encircled by chains.

I've always wondered what this poor woman might have done to deserve such public damnation.

Answer 3

A skull on a grave is a momento morie, a reminder that we are all human - and are destined to die, something that has been forgotten in modern times.