Now that you mention it, I toured a cemetery in New Orleans once.  The bury
there people in above the ground vaults.  It was a very old cemetery and I
believe they said families would just push the bones to the back and reuse
it.

I seem to remember some very old and bleached shells on top of these
vaults - but I remember them as queen conchs.

There is a religious custom (I don't remember which religion) of placing a
stone on a grave site.  Does anyone know the significance of this?

Sylvia S. Edwards
Huntsville, Alabama
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----- Original Message -----
From: Amy Lyn Edwards <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, August 23, 1999 9:34 AM
Subject: Re: [CONCH-L] Conch Shells


> I have noticed the use of Whelk (Busycon spp.) shells on graves in
Crawford
> Georgia.  The graves are of children who died in the early 1900s.
Crawford
> is not a coastal town (it is ~5 hours from the coast).  I have no idea how
> or why they would be used.
> Amy