We all must die, and how society deals with the disposal is fascinating
in the way it reflects the beliefs of the people of the time and ways in
which they honor or do not honor the dead. Having excavated prehistoric
burials, the author weighs carefully the evidence of what people might
have thought of the dead through the way they buried them and what was
put into the graves. These excavations were done mainly with the help of
young people, and the way that this has been organized in order to get
the maximum information has been an essential part of the task. The
author provides much detail of this that makes it more interesting and
personal.
Burial customs change, so the book includes a section on events such as
the Black Death and cholera to show how such catastrophes change
people's minds and customs.
The present problem of burial has been highlighted as it was then by the
horror of an invisible disease, the effects of which we have to cope
with. In the past the causes of the disease, when discovered, led to
Public health inquiries into the causes, and to improvements in some
burial grounds. The traditional burial in "God's little Acre' around a
church provides with much information about people through their
headstones and other monuments - something accessible to all who visit
our churches today, and examples from Northumberland give a typical
range of what we find there.
