Cities on Hills

I think it is something like "Prepared for future redemption, here are placed the last relics of mortal life for that time to come."

When we lived in Munich the cemeteries there also fascinated us. Each grave was like a little garden of its own. Families maintained them perfectly (edged in ivy or Erika - heather) - and on weekends especially, people would come by tram, underground to work on them. There were lines with watering cans to use and quite a few places to fill them. Very organized and really lovely. The cemeteries themselves were walled.

When we lived in northern Italy there were the "little houses" type of graves as well, most with lasered images stuck to them of the person buried. But we understood that after so long the bones were removed and placed in smaller walled recepticles to make room for more people!

Unfortunately they tried this in Chicago recently - but with the purpose of filthy lucre and w/ mass graves. Sick!

It seems to me what you've discovered is actually the particular form of cemetery called a "necropolis". Literally, a "city of the dead". The term is sometimes used to describe a now-ruined ancient city, but also applies to these particular kinds of cemeteries.

My understanding is this form of burial originated in ancient Roman religion, and so parallels can be found throughout the ancient Roman empire area (e.g. I once found a similar thing in Dalmatia). Originally those structures were not meant to resemble houses but temples, as the dead were worshipped. Obviously with Christianity this practice was modified, but the use of the burial structure remained.

The above-ground cemetaries in New Orleans are a necessity because of the high water table. Some of the locals have a horror of being buries in the ground: that's a Yankee thing.

In the Middle Ages,even northern Europeans had to periodically dig up old bones to reuse gravesites in the churchyard. That practice and burial inside churches came to be viewed as unsanitary by the 18th C and cemetaries were built outside of towns.

The above-ground cemetaries in New Orleans are a necessity because of the high water table. Some of the locals have a horror of being buries in the ground: that's a Yankee thing.

In the Middle Ages,even northern Europeans had to periodically dig up old bones to reuse gravesites in the churchyard. That practice and burial inside churches came to be viewed as unsanitary by the 18th C and cemetaries were built outside of towns.

Now that we're into burial grounds here's another spot:

http://i7.net/peru/nazca-burial-grounds

And this might be of interest for your next trip, Amy, and you wouldn't necessarily have to land:

http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&rlz=1T4DKUS_enUS308US308&q=nazca+lines+pictures&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=PMJgSsTHIcbulAfwo7zrCQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1

(hopefully this isn't a double post but I don't see the matching one up)

In Mexico, well Guadalajara actually, the cementary looks like that one (except that it's in the middle of the city, not on some gorgeous landscape!)...and they do look like little cities (because of the 'demand' they had to expand it and now what was one cementary became 3, but they're connected...and the road to the entrance is lined with florist and religious stores and stores selling memorials too!!!