Dissertationen zum Thema „Funeral memorials“

vi, 100 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number.
Ancient Greek acts of commemoration aimed to preserve the memory of an event or an individual. By examining the commemoration of athletic victory, military success, and death in battle, with reliance upon theories ofmemory, this study examines how each form of commemoration offered immortality. A vital aspect was the way they joined word and material reminder. Athletes could maintain their glory by erecting statues or commissioning epinician odes, which often relied on image and words. The physical and ideological reconfiguration of the plain of Marathon linked the battle's memory to a location. Pericles' oration offered eternal praise to both the war dead and Athens, an Athens crafted as a monument by Pericles to remain for future generations. In different and complimentary ways, all of these forms of commemoration preserved the glory of a deed or an individual for posterity.
Committee in Charge: Dr. Mary Jaeger, Chair; Dr. Christopher Eckerman

This thesis explores the customs and traditions surrounding death and memorialization in the history of Lethbridge, paying particular attention to the public "face" of the practices as observed in newspaper death notices, obituaries, in-memoriams, undertaker advertisements, gravestones and cemeteries. It places Lethbridge rituals within the context of the general paterns of western culture, and others, as described by anthropology, history, archaeology, and art history. Its intent is to understand the effects of certain external influences on the realms of personal choice and individuality, and to observe the extent to which these influences have had an impact on what was once deeply personal family matter.
viii, 197 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm.

This thesis explores the imagery of funerary ritual that expresses the commemoration of both the living and the dead in the art of the marble cinerary memorials of the early Empire. This group of objects includes decorated marble artefacts associated with cremation burial between the Augustan period and the reign of Antoninus Pius: ash chests (or cineraria); ash altars and grave altars (with or without ash cavities); as well as round urns and vase-shaped urns. The iconography chosen for cinerary memorials by individuals in the early Empire reflects those individuals’ concerns to remember families and friends and in turn to be remembered. This research approaches the analysis of funerary iconography holistically as embedded in its contemporary culture, as opposed to the focus on the art of various sub-cultures of Roman society, seen in recent scholarship. Items with adequate ancient provenance are used to create a sample dataset that represents individuals that belong to a middle to high income-group of society, individuals that are united through their ability to pay and commission these memorials, rather than by class. The epigraphic material, studied alongside the tomb analysis, indicates that this socio-economic group included people of different legal statuses: slaves, freed-people, non-elites and known-elites. Thus we are able to examine how artistic motifs, and also imperial iconography and culture, were received by a cross-section of society. The use of semiotics allows symbols to be analysed in conjunction with other methods such as examining narration and abstraction. This theoretical framework results in the extraction of meaning from seemingly generic motifs and connects this interpretation with contemporaneous cultural norms. Using these methods and the sample dataset, the memorial typology is examined as indicative of a focal point for funerary cult, through the connection between the object as a replacement altar for ritual, and as a house or shrine for the commemoration of the dead. The iconography associated with the memorials therefore relates to both the ritual context (garlands and other ritualistic motifs) and to the object as a small building (the architectonic façade and doors; garden and vegetative iconography). It also relates to the commemoration of the dead (portraiture and honorific iconography) and in particular to the idea of the spirit or manes of the deceased as being immortalised through the memorial (underworld and mythological iconography). All elements, then, point to the focus of the object in funerary ritual which enables the living to honour the spirit of the deceased and acts as a memento of family and friends, bringing together both the living and the dead in art and inscription.

The Chaukhandi Tombs, some 29 kilometers on the left of National Highway (Karachi-Thatta-Hyderabad) are remarkable for their elaborate and exquisite carvings. Their style of architecture is not only typical but unique in the sense that it is nowhere else to be found in the Islamic world. According to a rough estimate, the number of such graveyards ranges between 200 to 300. The ‘Chaukhandi graveyard near Landhi town of Karachi city was brought within pale of Ancient Monuments Preservation Act 1904 in the year 1922. The meaning and connotation of the term Chaukhandi is still controversial whether it is an architectural term or the name of a place. These sand stone built tombs are attributed with Jokhia and kalmati tribes and believe to be built between 16th to 18th centuries. The tombs are generally pyramid in shape and are embellished with beautiful carvings depicting both geometrical and floral motifs. Some of the graves contain human and pictorial representations in the form of hunting scenes, jewellery, arms and amour etc. A detailed study by Shaikh Khurshid throwing the light on the origin, their style of architecture, the history of the people lying buried there, the system of burial, the various forms of figural representation and decorative motifs, their social life and above all their profession, as it shows from their depiction that mainly they were warriors, craftsmen. The motive of my research is to survey and document all such tombs in Sindh and Baluchistan, and to glorify the uniqueness and beauty of this peculiar funerary architecture, as with the passage of time and without any measure steps taken for the preservation of this site, due to human negligence and nature vandalism, have suffered irreparable damage. In order to find some new aspects of Chaukhandi Tombs, I have spent a good amount of time in this graveyard and have taken keen interest to take in-depth study especially with regard to the origin of their style of architecture and the indigenous influences on these tombs.

Abstract The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore perceptions of loss and grief experiences within religious rites and rituals vis-à-vis the context of counseling. Literature indicated the need for a better understanding of grief and loss experiences from bereaved individuals’ perspectives and the context within which loss and grief experiences occur (Dillenburger & Keenan, 2005; Stroebe, Hansson, Schut, & Stroebe, 2008). Participants for this study included 10 purposefully selected Catholic members from two Catholic Church parishes in Nigeria, Africa. All participants had experienced loss and grief, had participated in Catholic burial and funeral rites and rituals, and were 21 years or older. The main research question was: How do bereaved individuals perceive their grief experiences within the context of Catholic burial and funeral rites and rituals? Data collected to answer the research questions consisted of observations, semi-structured interviews, and documents. A cross-analysis approach was used that identified 63 themes, which were collapsed into 11 major themes. depicted in three areas; bereaved participants’ grief experiences, bereaved participants’ experiences of rites and rituals, and implications for counseling. The findings of this study indicated that loss of a relationship was a dominant preoccupation in grief and grieving process. Additional themes reflected by bereaved individuals’ grief and grieving experiences were; time and nature of death, religious rites and rituals, family and community support, family frictions, financial stressors, positive memories, belief system, finding meaning, ongoing traumatization, and counseling. Overall, the conclusion from this study was that three areas conceptualize loss and grief experiences: bereaved participants’ grief experiences, bereaved participants’ experiences of rites and rituals, and implications for counseling.

This study examines the illustrations that appear at the Office of the Dead in English Books of Hours, and seeks to understand how text and image work together in this thriving culture of commemoration to say something about how the English understood and thought about death in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The Office of the Dead would have been one of the most familiar liturgical rituals in the medieval period, and was recited almost without ceasing at family funerals, gild commemorations, yearly minds, and chantry chapel services. The Placebo and Dirige were texts that many people knew through this constant exposure, and would have been more widely known than other 'death' texts such as the Ars Moriendi. The images that are found in these books reflect wider trends in the piety and devotional practice of the time. The first half of the study discusses the images that appear in these horae, and the relationship between the text and image is explored. The funeral or vigil scene, as the most commonly occurring, is discussed with reference to contemporary funeral practices, and ways of reading a Book of Hours. Other iconographic themes that appear in the Office of the Dead, such as the Roman de Renart, the Pety Job, the Legend of the Three Living and the Three Dead, the story of Lazarus, and the life of Job, are also discussed. The second part of the thesis investigates the musical elaborations of the Office of the Dead as found in English prayer books. The Office of the Dead had a close relationship with music, which is demonstrated through an examination of the popularity of musical funerals and obits, as well as in the occurrence of musical notation for the Office in a book often used by the musically illiterate. The development of the Office of the Dead in conjunction with the development of the Books of Hours is also considered, and places the traditions and ideas that were part of the funeral process in medieval England in a larger historical context.

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For centuries, the death was treated as a social and public event taking place accompanied by sacred rites. Right after the World War I, a precipitation of the dismantling of the traditional models of care for the dying and the bereaved just occurred. Death has become taboo and that same ban hit everything that it refers, including the mourning that has become an intimate and lonely experience. The desecration of death led to unritualized mourning, however, this did not imply neglect or abandonment of the Dead. Instead, we observe the emergence of new forms of relationship with the Dead in which the rites appear reconfigured, the manner of a bricolage. In order to study these new configurations we have chosen to investigate one of them that is called "in loving memory tattoos" produced due to a bereavement. This research suggests that in loving memory tattoos constitute an neurotic s individual (funeral) rite , that is, a private way of ritualizing mourning and paying funeral tribute in times of suppression of the death of social spaces and unritualized mourning. As we consider the making of a memorial tattoo a private rite, it was important to investigate the function of this rite that can both serve as a possible treatment of the real by the symbolic order in a kind of mourning written on the skin, as a rite that it aims to prolong the relationship with the departed one, producing an endless mourning in which the writing of the mourning never ends
Durante séculos, a morte foi tratada como um fato social e público que ocorria acompanhado por ritos sagrados. Logo após a Primeira Guerra, observou-se a precipitação do desmantelamento dos modelos tradicionais de cuidados aos agonizantes e amparo aos enlutados. A morte tornou-se tabu e essa mesma interdição atingiu tudo o que a ela se refere, incluindo o luto que se tornou uma experiência íntima e solitária. A dessacralização da morte levou à desritualização do luto, porém isso não implicou em abandono ou esquecimento dos mortos. Ao contrário, observamos a emergência de novas modalidades de relação com os mortos em que os ritos aparecem reconfigurados, ao modo de um bricolage. Com o intuito de estudar essas novas configurações, optamos por investigar uma delas, as chamadas tatuagens in memoriam produzidas em decorrência de um luto. Essa pesquisa sugere que as tatuagens in memoriam se constituem em um rito fúnebre individual do neurótico , isto é, um modo privado de ritualizar o luto e prestar tributo fúnebre em tempos de dessocialização da morte e desritualização do luto. Ao considerarmos a produção das tatuagens in memoriam um rito privado coube-nos investigar a função desse rito que pode tanto servir como tratamento possível do real pelo simbólico em forma de uma escrita do luto grafada no corpo, quanto um rito que visa prolongar a relação com o ser perdido, produzindo um luto interminável em que a escrita do luto não se conclui

Between Memory and Forgetting. Observations on Funeral Rites in the South American LowlandsA detailed analysis of the empirical data concerning Amazonian mourning reveals two types of contrasting funeral treatment. While various human groups make efforts to erase all memory of their dead, others seek to maintain continuing relationship with them. Pertinent research invalidates partially the commonly held thesis of an archetypical form of mourning in the Amazonian lowlands according to which there is a radical break with their dead. The existence of the two types of treatment also invites to reflections about the production of different forms of historical memory in these societies.
Si se realiza un examen detenido de los datos empíricos sobre las formas de duelo en la Amazonía, se revelan finalmente dos tipos contrastados de tratamiento funerario. Mientras que por un lado varios grupos humanos se esfuerzan por borrar toda traza y memoria de los muertos, por otro se busca mantener una relación de continuidad con ellos. Las investigaciones realizadas invalidan en parte la tesis común aceptada según la cual la forma arquetípica del duelo en las tierras bajas pasaría por una ruptura radical con los muertos. La existencia de estos dos tipos de tratamiento invita, por otra parte, a reflexionar sobre la producción de formas diferenciadas de memoria histórica en esas sociedades.

La investigación que se propone nace de una experiencia autobiográfica y se ocupa de la creación artística originada en el dolor de la pérdida. Específicamente se trata de indagar en las fuentes culturales más relevantes, que han sublimado y dado sentido históricamente, al misterio de la muerte y duelo en Occidente. Por otro lado, es un intento de ampliar estos horizontes contrastándolos con otras maneras de vivenciar la muerte, a través de las manifestaciones de culturas cuyas celebraciones y rituales vinculados a la muerte son reconocidos como verdaderos íconos estéticos de la cultura como es el caso de México, y enriqueceremos nuestra perspectiva a través de la revisión del quehacer artístico de autores contemporáneos que han trabajado con la muerte y el duelo ahondando en su problemática humana. Apoyándonos en las ideas del filósofo Peter Sloterdijk, para quien el duelo es un profundo problema existencial que sólo puede encontrar una expresión de su magnitud por medio del lenguaje mitológico, nos iniciamos en la posibilidad de una reconstrucción interna, teniendo como eje principal la memoria autobiográfica amenazada por el caos del sin sentido. Esto mediante la observación de cómo culturalmente el dolor puede dar lugar a un proceso de transición espiritual y de sublimación por medio del ritual como obra artística. Así, la propuesta de este proyecto es mostrar la transformación del desagarro de la muerte del otro, como emoción universal, mediante un proceso de investigación y creación, que nos permita reconocer diversas formas colectivas de asumir este evento y específicamente, de convertirlo tanto en ritual como en objeto artístico.

Ce travail a pour fondement l’étude de trois ensembles funéraires périurbains situés dans les capitales de cité des peuples Médiomatriques (Metz-Divodurum), Nerviens (Bavay-Bagacum) et Morins (Thérouanne-Tervanna). Notre étude est basée sur un corpus composé de plus de 480 structures funéraires, auquel ont été ajoutées les données issues des autres découvertes funéraires effectuées dans ces trois villes, du 18ème siècle à nos jours. Sur la base de cette documentation, nous proposons une analyse des pratiques funéraires en usage dans le nord de la Gaule et plus particulièrement dans la province de la Gaule Belgique et de leur évolution au cours des trois premiers siècles de notre ère. La première partie de ce travail est consacrée à l’organisation des espaces funéraires en contexte urbain à travers l’analyse de différents paramètres : lieux et dynamique d’implantation des aires funéraires, organisation interne et structuration de l’espace ainsi que le mode de répartition des structures (fonctionnelle, chronologique et sociale). Les chapitres suivants sont consacrés à la compréhension et à l’interprétation des différentes pratiques et gestuelles funéraires qui ont pu être observées lors de l’étude des structures de notre corpus. Pour ce faire, nous avons tenté de restituer les différentes étapes du processus funéraire et de replacer l’ensemble de ces pratiques dans l’ordre selon lequel elles se sont déroulées. Dans un premier temps, nous nous sommes intéressées aux données relatives à l’étape de la crémation du corps observées lors de la fouille des bûchers funéraires, à travers l’examen de la structure des bûchers, des modalités de traitement du corps ainsi que du rôle et de l’origine du mobilier funéraire utilisés autour du bûcher. Ensuite, nous avons abordé le lieu de dépôt définitif des restes en présentant les éléments constitutifs de la tombe, les différents types de structures funéraires auxquels nous avons été confrontés ainsi que les divers modes de dépôts des ossements et leur organisation au sein de la fosse sépulcrale. Une attention particulière a également été portée aux étapes relatives au transfert et aux modalités de dépôt des restes osseux du défunt dans la tombe ainsi qu’aux pratiques et aux gestuelles qui en découlent. Enfin, dans un dernier chapitre, nous avons analysé les différents apports du mobilier funéraire afin de mieux cerner les différents gestes, perceptibles à travers les restes archéologiques, effectués lors de la constitution de la tombe mais également tout au long des funérailles ou encore lors de fêtes commémoratives où l’on rendait hommage au défunt. Cette étude synthétique s’appuie sur un catalogue détaillé des sépultures, composé de deux volumes (volume 1 : Metz « Avenue André Malraux », volume 2 : Bavay « La Fache des Près Aulnoys » et Thérouanne « Les Oblets ») présentant, par phases chronologiques, les observations de terrain, l’inventaire du mobilier, ainsi que les résultats des études des restes osseux humains et animaux
This work is founded on the study of three funerary complexes of outlying suburbs located in the capital cities of Mediomatrici (Metz-Divodurum), Nervii (Bagay-Bagacum) and Morini (Thérouanne-Tervanna). Our study is based on a corpus composed of more than 480 funerary structures, which has been amended by the data issued from the other funerary discoveries carried out in these three cities, from the 18th century to nowadays. Based upon that documentation, we propose an analysis of funerary practices in use in the North of Gaul and more particularly in the province of Gallia Belgica and of their evolution in the first three centuries of our area. The first part of this work is related to the organization of the funerary areas in an urban context through the analysis of different parameters: places and settlement dynamic of funerary areas, internal organization and space structuring as well as the mode of distribution of the structures (functional, chronological and social). The following chapters are related to the understanding and interpretation of the different funerary practices and gestures, which may have been observed during the study of the structures of our corpus. To do that, we have tried to reconstruct the different steps of the funerary process and to replace the whole practices in the order in which they took place. First, we took an interest in the data connected with the stage of the body cremation, data observed during the excavation of the funerary pyres, through the examination of the pit structure, the methods of treatment of the body as well as the role and the origin of the grave goods used around the pyre. Then, we moved on to the place of final deposition of the remains by presenting the constituent elements of the grave, the different types of funerary structures we have been confronted with as well as the varied modes of deposition of the bones and their organization within the sepulchral pit. A specific attention has also been given to the steps which are relative to the transfer and to the modes of deposition of the bones of the deceased in the grave as well as the practices and body movements which follow that. Finally, in a last chapter, we have analyzed the different deposits of the funerary goods in order to define as well as possible the different gestures which were pointed out through the archaeological remains, and which were made at the time of the composition of the grave but also throughout the funeral or during the memorial feasts where respects to the deceased were paid. This overall study is based on a detailed catalogue of the tombs which is composed of two volumes (volume 1: Metz “Avenue André Malraux”, volume 2: Bavay “La Fache des Près Aulnoys” and Thérouanne “Les Oblets”) displaying by chronological phases the observations made during the excavation work, the inventory of the grave goods, as well as the results of the studies of animal and human bones rests
Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit drei am Stadtrand gelegenen Grabensembles, die in den civitates-Hauptstädten der Mediomatriker (Metz-Divodurum), Nervier (Bavay-Bagacum) und Moriner (Thérouanne-Tervanna) liegen. Unsere Untersuchungen beziehen sich auf eine Sammlung von mehr als 480 Grabstrukturen, ergänzt durch Grabungsdokumentationen früherer Entdeckungen, die von 18. Jh. bis heute in diesen drei Städten zu Tage gekommen sind. Anhand dieser Dokumentation, ist eine Analyse der im Nordgallien und besonders in Gallia Belgica üblichen Bestattungsbräuche und deren Entwicklung während der drei ersten Jahrhunderte nach Christus möglich. Der erste Teil dieser Arbeit ist den Grabbereichen im Stadtbereich gewidmet, wobei verschiedener Faktoren untersucht worden sind: Orte und Ansiedlungsdynamik der Grabareale, innere Organisation und Raumstrukturierung sowie Verbreitungsart der Befunde (funktional, chronologisch und gesellschaftlich). Die folgenden Kapitel sind dem Verständnis und der Interpretation der verschiedenen Bestattungsbräuche und –gesten, die während der Studie der Befunde unseres Corpus beachtet wurden, gewidmet. Dabei wurde versucht, die verschiedenen Etappen des Bestattungsprozesses, in der Reihenfolge wie sie vollzogen wurden, zu rekonstruieren. Zuerst haben wir uns für die in den Grabungen beachteten Gegebenheiten der Kremationsetappen der Körper interessiert, durch Untersuchung der Scheiterhaufenstruktur, Behandlungsbedingungen der Körper sowie Rolle und Herkunft der Grabbeigaben, die um die Scheiterhaufen benutzt wurden. Dann haben wir die Stelle, die der endgültigen Deponierung des Leichenbrandes diente, angesprochen, durch Vorstellung der Grabgrundlagen, der verschiedenen Grabstrukturtypen mit welchen wir konfrontiert waren, sowie der diversen Formen der Knochendeponierungen und ihre Organisation innerhalb der Grabgrube. Ausserdem wurden die Etappen, die im Zusammenhang mit dem Transfer und den Deponierungsbedingungen des Knochenmaterials ins Grab stehen, sowie die Bräuche und Gesten die daraus folgen, besonders analysiert. Im letzten Kapitel wurden schließlich die verschiedenen Elemente des Grabmaterials untersucht, um die diversen durch archäologischen Gegebenheiten erkennbaren Gesten besser abgrenzen zu können, welche während der Komposition des Grabes, während des Begräbnisses selbst oder aber während der Gedenkfeiern, durchgeführt wurden. Diese zusammenfassende Arbeit stützt sich auf einem detaillierten Katalog der Gräber, eingeteilt in zwei Bände (Band 1: Metz « Avenue André Malraux », Band 2: Bavay « La Fache des Près Aulnoys » und Thérouanne « Les Oblets »), in welchem die Grabungsbeobachtungen, die Grabinventaren sowie die Ergebnisse des Studiums des menschlichen und tierischen Knochenmaterials in chronologischer Reihenfolge präsentiert sind

碩士
南華大學
生死學研究所
98
The study aims to investigate the existence meaning of funeral memorial DVD toward important family members, its use at the funeral, and the perspectives of its production process. Furthermore, it continues to understand the self-existence meaning of the DVD toward the family members, through which to probe into the importance of using the DVD at the funeral. The study employed qualitative research method through purpose sampling and in-depth interviews of three family members who had used funeral memorial DVDs. Data were collected and analyzed for the deeper existence meaning of funeral memorial DVD to important family members. Based on the analysis, findings were summarized as follows: 　 1. The motivation of making funeral memorial DVD varies individually. 2. The participation of the DVD production is the process of re-connection between the deceased and their family members. 3. Using the DVD enables the guests to understand why they are at the funeral. 4. The background music of the DVD creates different atmosphere at the funeral. 5. The major meaning of the DVD is its use and commemoration after the funeral. 6. There is connection between the life and the death through the DVD. 7. The DVD has the meaning of passing down the mission of the family. 8. The DVD helps the important family members to reflect on the self existence meaning for themselves. 　 　　Finally, suggestions and recommendations were made for further research and those in the related work.

碩士
國立臺南藝術大學
動畫藝術與影像美學研究所
107
While studying at the graduate school and practicing the skills on animation creation, I discovered a hidden story, through describing my father’s nostalgia to the home village and his strong emotion for his mother, that my father never went back to his home village after the family house was gone due to relative’s gambling. I remember that my father only went back to his home village once, and that day was the funeral of my grandmother. The memory of that day records my first witness on my father’s wailing. The tears on my father’s face still leave a deep trace on my mind. The sorrow towards my father prompts me to create the animation “My father at grandma’s funeral” and “Teletopie”. At the meantime, by surveying and analyzing the content and scripts of several key animations that inspire me, I try to further explore how creators interpret and present the sentiment of father’s memories and nostalgia in video works. The first chapter of the essay reviews the context and concept of my video creation. By analyzing the components of various movies and animations, the second chapter investigates how to present father’s nostalgia and memories through video works.From “Teletopie”to “My father at grandma’s funeral”,the third chapter discuss how I extend my feelings toward my father and begin to the creation of animations. The final chapter concludes my creative practice and retrospection during the learning process at graduate school as well as my prospects for future creation.

In contemporary North America, death is contained within a network of cemeteries, crematoria and funeral homes. Death-space and its associative funeral rituals are both sacred and abject resulting in marginalization that adversely affects how the living understand their mortality. Our perception of death influences our place in the world and funeral ritual facilitates our departure from it. In most cities, the funeral home houses this liminal ritual, while also providing the clinical handling and processing of the deceased body. Investigation of the funeral home and its role within the city addresses how architecture can influence cultural views on death. Through the funeral home there is an opportunity to balance the seemingly opposing narratives of the living and the deceased by bringing them together for the funeral. In the City of Toronto, the density of its diverse neighbourhoods is not reflected by a proportionate number of local funeral homes. This thesis proposes a non-denominational space for funeral ritual and cremation within the dense St. Lawrence Neighbourhood. The placement of the Funeral Centre satisfies the practical requirements of this growing community, while the adjacency to the St. Lawrence Market juxtaposes the vibrancy of the ordinary and the solemnity of the sacred. This proposal extends into a network for the scattering of ashes throughout the city aiming to reconnect people to the realities of their existence.

The present study aims at throwing light on a lesser explored facet of the Hindu set of beliefs on death and afterlife, that is to say their material culture expressions resulting in the erection of funerary monuments. Although widespread all over India and known to scholars since the colonial time, only few systematic studies have been so far carried out on the wide number of structures which can be ascribed to the Hindu funerary milieu since ancient time to present; this was certainly favoured, on the one hand, by the paucity and ambiguity of references to them contained in literary sources, and, on the other, by the highly destructive nature of the corpse treatment in India, something which is too often associated with a supposed lack of regularity in the production of semata. Ethnographical and archaeological surveys actually reveal an authentic proliferation of such materials in the frame of Hinduism, for which the present study proposes a first consistent classification. Taking into account the manifold regional varieties of shapes and designations - too often flattened by the English umbrella name “memorial stones” – this work offers a categorization of the Hindu funerary artifacts on the ground of three objective parameters (structure, function and nature) and analyzes their coming into existence as a consequence of a certain attitude towards the commemoration of the deceased, that at the level of folk religion may turn into the divinization of the departed soul by different degrees of identification with God. Focusing on the subclass of materials which are dedicated to individuals who perished in extraordinary circumstances (namely, hero-stones), the present work also offers an illustrated catalogue of materials, which is the result of the collection of over three hundred specimens in a selected region of India (the south-eastern districts of Maharashtra) and the first of its kind encompassing a detailed art-historical appraisal.