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CHAMBER TOMBS

prehistoric places of interment, often for large communities, constructed of large stones and originally covered with an earthen mound

CHAPEL

A large room of the funeral home in which the farewell service is held.

CHASSE

(also referred to as a shrine or monstrance) is a container for holy relics. These may be the physical remains of saints, such as bones or shreds of clothing, or some object associated with the saints or other holy figures

CHURCH MONUMENTS

tomb-style chests inside a church or in a churchyard which are placed over the grave or burial vault; not considered tombs since they do not contain intered

COFFIN

a funerary box , used in the display and containment of deceased remains, designed in a manner in which the side dimensions taper towards the feet. A coffin may be buried in the ground directly, placed in a burial vault or cremated. Different cultures have regulations for the building standards and adornments.

COIMETROPHOBIA

the fear of cemeteries

COLUMBARIUM

A structure of vaults lined with recesses for urns containing cremated remains.

COMMITTAL SERVICE

The final portion of the funeral service at which time the deceased is interred or entombed.

CONTAINER

A pressboard or fiberboard box the size of a casket usually used for immediate/direct cremations; alternative container.

CORONER

A public official and in some cases a constitutional officer whose duty it is to investigate the case of death if it appears to be from other than natural causes, or if there was no physician in attendance for a long time prior to death.

CORTEGE

The funeral procession

COSMETOLOGY

Utilization of cosmetics to restore life like appearance to the deceased.

COT

The stretcher-like carrier used to remove deceased persons from the place of death to the funeral home.

CREMAINS

The remains of a body after cremation; cremated remains.

CREMATION

A process which reduces the body by heat to small bone frag­ments. When the fragments are pulverized, they are reduced to the consistency of coarse sand or crushed seashells.

CREMATION PERMIT

A certificate issued by local government authorizing cremation of the deceased.

CREMATORY

A building with a furnace called a retort which is used to cremate human remains (or the furnace/retort itself)

CRYPT

Historically was a vault or chamber beneath the main level of a church,  the part of a church containing graves and relics or a stone chambered vault below a castle, similar to burial vaults but usually for more general public interment. In current society, they are considered mausoleums and are intended as a burial place for one or any number of people.

ECO-FRIENDLY CASKET

A burial receptacle designed from cardboard, wicker or bamboo, interred in a environmentally-friendly, or green cemetery location without being enclosed in a concrete vault. This type of burial is not only economically friendly, it also allows for rapid decomposition of the non-embalmed remains, and automatic recycling of the container,

EFFIGY

a representation of a person, especially in the form of sculpture, usually associated with figures of a deceased person depicted in stone (as in the carved likenesses in the tympanum on a Colonial-era Puritan gravestone in the Northestern states), some displayed with wings, and known as winged effigies

ELEGY

a poem written in tribute to the dead

EMBALMER

someone trained in the art and science of embalming, the study of anatomy, thanatology, chemistry and specific embalming theory combined with practical instruction in a mortuary setting before a final examination and receiving a license

EMBALMING

in most modern cultures, is the art and science of temporarily preserving human remains to forestall decomposition and make it suitable for display at a funeral. The three goals of embalming are thus preservation, sanitization and presentation (or restoration) of a dead body to achieve this effect.

EULOGY

a funeral oration given in tribute to a person or people who have recently died

EXCAVATED SPOIL

The material dug up when the grave is excavated. Often piled up close to the grave for backfilling and then returned to the grave to cover it. As soil decompresses when excavated and space is occupied by the burial not all the volume of soil fits back in the hole, so often evidence is found of remaining spoil. In cemeteries this may end up as a thick layer of spoil overlying the original ground surface.

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RD Glossary by Run Digital