In the early 1800s, Britain and America found themselves in a whirlwind of scientific and medical discovery. The study of anatomy and surgery was extremely popular. This led to a gruesome trade in bodies, a practice which was mirrored elsewhere around the world.

Grieving families could no longer bury their dead and expect them to remain that way. Resurrection men roamed churchyards late at night, looking for freshly dug graves. They would disinter the body, undress the corpse, and toss its clothes back into the grave before carrying it away into the night. After that, the body would be dissected, often in front of an audience, for the betterment of mankind.

Obviously, some relatives took exception to this, and they came up with a number of ingenious ways to foil the body snatchers.

10 Mort Safes

Mort safes were iron cages placed over and sometimes around the coffin to prevent it from being reached by the resurrection men. The cages were left over the graves for up to 10 weeks until the bodies were sufficiently putrefied that they were of no use for dissection. Sometimes, the cages were left in place permanently.^[1]

At that time, Edinburgh had a noted surgical school and was a center of excellence for the study of anatomy and surgery. There was also a steady supply of cadavers due in no small part to two of its inhabitants—Mr. William Burke and Mr. William Hare. Surgeons’ Hall Museums in Edinburgh explore some of the less edifying history of surgery. Now they even boast an interactive dissecting table for visitors to have a go themselves—thankfully, not on a real body!

However, the inhabitants of Edinburgh at that time were not quite so happy. Evidence of mort safes can still be seen at a cemetery called Greyfriars Kirkyard, along with a number of other precautions taken by the residents to prevent the untimely resurrection of the dead.

9 Iron Coffins

Wealthy families sometimes resorted to constructing the entire coffin from iron to prevent the body snatchers from reaching the remains inside. In St. Brides Church in Fleet Street, London, an iron coffin, riveted shut, was discovered bearing the date 1819. Meanwhile, the body of a boy found in an iron coffin near Washington is believed to date from the 1850s.^[2]

A number of patented coffins were guaranteed to be tamperproof, with the iron coffin proving a particular favorite. Special lifting equipment was required to lower the coffins into the ground. This made things difficult for the cemetery keepers who were often reluctant to accept iron coffins.

In one case, the body of a woman lay unburied in her coffin for three months while the courts decided whether the cemetery keepers were entitled to refuse her entry. Which made the whole thing a little redundant.

8 Mort Houses

Mort houses were fortified and guarded buildings used for storing bodies prior to burial to render the corpses unfit for dissection. Each mort house would store a number of bodies for a fee, and they would stay there for several weeks until the decomposition was advanced.

The design of the mort houses was usually extremely secure. They were constructed along the lines of prisons and bank vaults. For example, the mort house at Belhelvie near Aberdeen is built of large granite blocks with a single doorway down three stone steps which is protected by a further set of double doors.

The inner door is covered with a sheet of iron and has a massive lock. The outer door is made of strong oak planks and is studded with iron bolts and two large mortise locks. The two keyholes are covered and protected by two iron bars, one hinged at the top of the door and the other at the bottom. Where the bars intersect, they are secured with a huge padlock.

It would take a committed body snatcher to get past that.

Scotland had a large number of mort houses, including one at Udny which boasted a revolving coffin platform for the easy addition and extraction of bodies.^[3]

7 Delaying Burial

For those who couldn’t afford a place at a mort house, there remained the option of keeping the body at home until it had decomposed. It is unlikely that people found that to be a pleasant choice.

Mourners would also mix the earth in which the body was to be buried with an equal measure of straw to make it more difficult to dig through. But with the elaborate measures taken by the wealthy for their burials, the poor dead were especially vulnerable.

The penalties for body snatching were also relatively minor as long as the perpetrators did not carry away any of the deceased’s possessions. This accounted for the clothes being tossed back into the grave.

Those people who were unfortunate enough to die in the workhouse were especially vulnerable. “Charitable” hospitals would often sell the bodies of any inmates without kin directly to the dissecting hospitals, and resurrection men often arranged for someone to make a claim on the bodies by pretending to be a relative. It is a sad fact that they were valued more in death than they were in life.^[4]

6 Mort Stones

Graves were most likely to be robbed in the first week or two following the funeral when the corpse was freshest and the soil in the grave had not yet been firmed up. As a temporary measure, mort stones were sometimes used to cover the top of the grave site.

At Inverurie near Aberdeen, several mort stones can still be found in the graveyard. These large granite stones had the same dimensions as the plot and completely covered the coffin beneath. They required a special hoist to lift them into place and to remove them again after decomposition so that a headstone could be put in the same place.^[5]

In 1816, Superintendent Gibb of Aberdeen Harbor Works gifted a mort stone, costing half a crown, to St. Fitticks churchyard. The lifting equipment cost considerably more and had to be kept securely under lock and key to prevent the sack-em-up men from getting to it.

5 Vigils

Relatives often took turns sitting at a graveside every night for the first week to deter the grave robbers. Sitting in the dark beside a grave waiting for robbers to show up could not have been an easy task. But people were so afraid of the body snatchers that they did it.

There was a popular view that a body had to be “whole” to enter Heaven. So the dissectors were therefore stealing not only the bodies of the dead but also their eternal rest.

A churchyard in Somerset, England, records the tragic tale of Miss Rogers who was engaged to a sailor. He was sailing home so that they could marry. But his ship wrecked, and he drowned.

As in all the best Gothic romances, his fiancee died soon after from a broken heart. She was buried in her wedding dress, wearing all her jewelry. About that time, there were rumors that resurrection men were searching for new corpses for surgical reasons. The family servants kept nightly vigil at the grave until such time as a mort stone could be laid over it.^[6]

4 Watchmen

Those who did not fancy the task of sitting in the graveyard all night often procured the services of a watchman. The parish of Ely, for example, employed a watchman to be “constantly in the churchyards for the protection of the bodies buried.”

In some of the larger churchyards, watchhouses were built to lodge the watchmen between shifts. One near Aberdeen has a two-story tower with the upper floor used as a lookout. It even has a special hole through which the watchmen could shoot at intruders and a bell on the top of the tower which could be used to raise the alarm and to seek assistance.

Some body snatchers posed as watchmen themselves, which meant that they knew where all the traps were. Some were in league with the body snatchers and took a commission on the sale of the bodies.^[7]

Being an honest watchman was a dangerous occupation. When bribery or intimidation couldn’t persuade the watchmen to look the other way, the sack-em-up men would take their chances anyway and turn to violence if they were caught. One poor guard was even attacked with a saber.

3 Coffin Torpedoes

Among the more ingenious forms of burial security was the coffin torpedo.

Patented in 1878 in Columbus, Ohio, by Philip K. Clover, the coffin torpedo was designed to “successfully prevent the unauthorized resurrection of dead bodies; and . . . be readily secured to the coffin and the body of the contained corpse in such manner that any attempt to remove the body after burial will cause the discharge of the cartridge contained in the torpedo and injury or death of the desecrator of the grave.”^[8]

The torpedo featured an intricate mechanism that exploded “with deadly force” if the coffin was disturbed. Little thought appears to have been given to the legality of such a weapon.

Luckily for Mr. Clover, there is little evidence that the coffin torpedo actually went into production. Churchyards were dangerous enough at that time with body snatchers creeping around with sabers in the middle of the night and armed watchmen shooting intruders through the walls without adding high explosives to the mix.

2 Coffin Collars

Rather more practical was the coffin collar. The collar was made up of a very heavy iron ring mounted on a board of thick oak. This was secured to the base of the coffin with heavy bolts, thus rendering it impossible to remove the corpse without decapitating it and seriously reducing its value.

This was a practical and comparatively cheap method of defeating the resurrectionists, and examples of their use have been found in churchyards in Scotland. The collars were not pretty and would have been very visible in an open casket. But they did give the deceased’s relatives some peace of mind.^[9]

1 Booby Traps On Graves

The feeling against the dissectors was so strong that some mourners even went so far as to booby trap the graves. They set spring-loaded guns into the ground and embedded sharp objects there, too. In Dublin, it was reported that a grieving father went so far as to plant a land mine in the coffin of his infant child.^[10]

Whether the land mine was genuine is debatable. Certainly, no resurrection man took the trouble to find out.

The feelings against the resurrection men ran high, with citizens demanding that something be done to protect the dead. The passage of the 1832 Anatomy Act in England and similar bills in America and elsewhere ended the trade in bodies almost overnight.

It allowed for corpses to be obtained for medical research from a number of sources, particularly the poor and the unclaimed. Surgeons, medical students, and scientists could expand their knowledge of the human body while leaving the dead to their everlasting peace.

Ward Hazell is a writer who travels and is an occasional travel writer.

Seeing a dead body is disturbing enough, but for those studying the past, it can be incredibly common. When multiple dead bodies are found, it can make for an interesting insight into the darker parts of history. By examining the tragic final resting places of those from history, life back then becomes alive

10Mayan Decapitations

In 2013, archaeologists discovered 24 decapitated and mutilated bodies at the ancient Mayan city of Uxil. The burying of the victims was quite elaborate: They had been stored in an artificial cave that served as a water reservoir, were covered by a layer of gravel, and then were sealed shut in the caves by a layer of clay. The bodies were discovered after an examination of Uxil’s drainage system; they had been forgotten entirely before then.

The corpses dated from the seventh century, sparking two possible theories. They were either prisoners of war who were brutally executed or they were nobility overthrown. There is evidence to the latter theory because many of the corpses had jade in their teeth, a sign of being in the upper class.

9St. Helena Slave Graves

St. Helena is an island located in the South Atlantic between Africa and South America. At one time, it served as an outpost for slave traders. Any slaves who died during the crossing to the Americas were buried on St. Helena, and in 2012, their bodies were uncovered.

In the 1800s, when Great Britain was trying to cease slave trading in their Caribbean colonies, the Royal Navy would take many of the slaves arriving at St. Helena and put them in colonies. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough and the slaves who died afterward were burned in mass graves. Around 325 of an estimated 5,000 bodies were found in the graves during the construction of a new airport being built on the island. 83 percent were young people and children.

8Chinese Disease House

In 2015, the charred remains of 97 people were discovered in a 5,000-year-old house located in a prehistoric village in China. The bodies had been stuffed inside of the tiny house—-it was smaller than most modern-day squash courts —then the house was burned to the ground.

Anthropologists studying the site believe that some kind of prehistoric disaster like an epidemic had occurred. A quick-killing disease could have caused the deaths because it appeared that they died suddenly and were obviously buried with very little reverence. However, all of this happened before Hamin Mangha—the modern-day name for the village—began keeping records, so we can only guess about the real reason for the tragic find.

7Neolithic Massacres

In 2006, road construction in central Germany unearthed 26 brutally killed humans dating from the Neolithic era. All of them had bones broken and their skulls smashed in. There was even evidence that they had been either tortured before death or mutilated afterward.

Two other equally disturbing sites had been found—one also in Germany and another in Austria. The discovery in Germany was an apparent “death pit” containing 34 bodies, while the Austrian discovery contained 64 bodies. All of these findings illustrate a violent and uncertain past.

6Durham University Graves

When excavations were being made for a proposed library addition at Durham University in the United Kingdom, a surprising discovery was made: two graves containing 1,700 bodies from the 17th century. The graves had not been previously recorded, so many were scratching their heads as to the origin of the tragedy.

The graves come from a dark and bloody time in England’s history: the English Civil War. It is believed that the bodies belonged to Scottish soldiers taken captive after the Battle of Dunbar in 1650. They were captured by the English revolutionary Oliver Cromwell and probably died from starvation or disease and buried in mass graves then forgotten. It is also believed that some of them might have been those killed during the Battle of Dunbar because the graves of the deceased were never actually recorded.

5Quarantine Island

While digging the foundation for a new museum on the small island of Lazzaretto Vecchio located in the Venetian Lagoon, a grave containing 1,500 corpses were found. The bodies give a clear picture about one of the scariest events to sweep across Europe: the Black Plague. During the 15th and 16th century, Lazzaretto Vecchio served as Europe’s first lazaret—a quarantine colony for those infected.

In 1485, in an effort to end the rapid infection of the population, officials put the infected on Lazzaretto Vecchio, called Lazaretum at the time. Since the bodies were also known to cause the plague to spread, they were buried on the island rather than transported back to the city.

4Paris Medieval Hospital

In January 2015, an expansion of the basement at a Parisian supermarket led to a grisly find: the cemetery of medieval hospital. The hospital, called Hopital de la Trinite, had been built in the 13th century and was then outside the city limits. It served in several capacities, but after the expansion of Paris over the years, the hospital was torn down and its cemetery was forgotten.

The 316 buried in the cemetery could have been the victims of the plague that ravaged Paris in the 1340s, famine, or other factors, but none of them display trauma of any kind, so they weren’t the victims of war. Most people buried in cemeteries similar to the one discovered were moved to the Catacombs, but these weren’t, making the find even more intriguing. The hospital itself was closed during the French Revolution then dismantled in 1812 and built over by other structures.

3Cylon’s Followers

Cylon was a Greek athlete who, thousands of years ago, tried to overthrow the Athenian government. In April 2016, what is believed to be the graves of Cylon’s followers were found. Two graves dating from 675–650 BC contained 85 men, of which 36 were buried bound and shackled.

Cylon was a celebrity athlete who won the double foot race in the Olympics during the seventh century BC. Seizing upon his celebrity status, he gathered a group of his followers and tried to take the Acropolis. They were besieged there, and Cylon and his core group escaped. The remainder of his followers were left there with no food and left after being promised their lives would be spared. Instead, they were brutally killed and allegedly buried in the graves found recently.

2Sacrifice To Anubis

The unearthed catacombs beneath the Ancient Egyptian shrine to the canine god Anubis were found to contain millions of fossils—not of humans but of dogs.

The catacombs were built as a place to leave dogs sacrificially to the Egyptian deity, and the numbers are incredible. An estimated eight million fossils are believed to be held in the catacombs. While many have long since disintegrated or were disturbed by grave robbers, the area of Saqqara near Memphis remains mostly intact.

Other animals have been found, suggesting that the area held other animal shrines. But the most popular was by far the Anubis cult, and the dogs that were served up as sacrifices probably served as a major part of the ancient economy. They were bred and raised specifically for sacrificing, sold to those wanting blessings or good favors from Anubis.

1The First War

In Kenya, a 10,000-year-old mass grave was discovered containing the fossils of several humans who showed signs of violent trauma. This grave is believed contains the victims of the oldest war ever discovered.

The remains were found at Lake Turkana and showed signs of blunt force trauma along with arrow wounds. Some of the tools used to kill the victims were found nearby, were made of obsidian. Even females weren’t spared: One died after her hands were bound, while another was bound and killed despite being pregnant.

In the words of Marta Mirazohn Lahr, the lead author of the study conducted at Cambridge University, “These human remains record the intentional killing of a small band of foragers with no deliberate burial and provide unique evidence that warfare was part of the repertoire of inter-group relations among some prehistoric hunter-gatherers.”

Gordon Gora is a struggling author who is desperately trying to make it. He is working on several projects but until he finishes one, he will write for for his bread and butter. You can write him at [email protected].

Most graves are rather sedate affairs. Memorial stones typically contain the names, dates of birth and death, and brief and respectable epitaphs that tell you nothing about the person buried beneath them.

The meaning behind some memorials may never be known, particularly when those who knew the deceased are dead and gone themselves. For some people, however, their final resting place is a chance to have the last word in an argument or to celebrate their achievements in life.

Whatever the reason for their creation, some gravestones make for very interesting reading.

10 Sir Jeffrey Hudson

Born in 1619, Sir Jeffrey Hudson had a unique claim to fame when he was alive and his memorial ensures that he will remembered for it in death. Hudson was a dwarf in the court of Queen Henrietta Maria. He was a court jester, an explorer, a soldier, and a slave. He was even captured by pirates.

But his finest hour came when he was hidden inside a pie which was then presented to King Charles I. At some point, Hudson burst out of the pie, presumably to cries of “Surprise!” He was dressed in a miniature set of armor made especially for him. Along with a monkey and a giant, he became a kind of pet of the royal family. The giant and the dwarf developed an act for the entertainment of the royal court.

Hudson was often used to deliver messages for the royal family while they were in the midst of civil war. He was promoted to the position of Captain of Horse, supposedly for being a crack shot and a good rider.

In 1644, Hudson challenged a man to a duel and shot his opponent dead, which was unfortunate as his enemy had armed himself only with a water pistol. Hudson was sentenced to death. But after the queen’s intervention, he was exiled instead.

Soon after, he was captured by Barbary pirates and sold into slavery in Africa. Hudson spent 25 years as a slave, during which time he grew 56 centimeters (22 in). He claimed that his growth spurt was caused by the constant “buggery” he was subjected to. Eventually, he was rescued, only to be brought home and thrown into prison for being Catholic. He spent the next 14 years there.^[1]

Though Hudson’s life was full of adventure, his memorial contains only the line, “A Dwarf presented in a pie to King Charles 1st.” However, if you wanted something that summed up the strange nature of Jeffrey Hudson’s life, that line is probably as good as any.

9 Jules Verne

The author Jules Verne is considered to be one of the founders of modern science fiction writing. The author of Around the World in 80 Days and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea wanted to create a new genre that combined fiction with scientific fact—or as he called it, “scientifiction.”^[2]

So it was natural that Verne would want a memorial at his death that was both remarkable and challenged the imagination. The grave seems perfectly conventional at first. It has a headstone giving details of his birth and death.

At the base of the gravestone, however, a statue of a naked man emerges from the ground. Presumably, it represents Jules Verne or possibly Christ pushing back the tombstone and climbing out of the grave with his hand stretched toward the heavens. The piece was designed by Albert-Dominique Roze and is entitled Towards Immortality and Eternal Youth.

The statue is certainly memorable and challenges the imagination, though the purpose is not clear. It is also likely to scare the living daylights out of families visiting the cemetery at dusk.

8 Charles Pigeon

Charles Pigeon seems to have been proud of two things—his family and his invention. Pigeon had invented a gas lamp which did not explode. That would have been handy in 1884.

The lamp won a silver medal at the 1855 Paris Exposition. He sold the lamps in a variety of styles in his own store in Paris and patented the design. He must have made a good living from the lamps because he was able to have a remarkable memorial built on a plot large enough to hold 18 members of his family.

The gravestone takes the shape of a double bed and contains effigies of his wife in evening dress and Pigeon in a business suit. He is reading from a book while his wife listens to him. As if that weren’t grand enough, an angel hovers over them while holding a Pigeon lamp.^[3]

7 Jerry Bibb Balisok

The memorial to Jerry Bibb Balisok is as strange as it is misleading. The plaque declares that Balisok was murdered in Guyana in 1978 and includes the epitaph “Damn The State Dept.”

Balisok’s mother had erected the memorial after seeing what she believed to be the body of her son on TV after the Jonestown Massacre in Guyana, in which more than 900 religious followers of Jim Jones were killed in a mass suicide/murder in their compound-cum-temple. It is unclear why she thought Balisok was there.

Balisok, a one-time professional wrestler known as Mr. X, fled the US with his girlfriend after being charged with check fraud. The bodies recovered after the Jonestown Massacre were so badly burned that they were unidentifiable. But Mrs. Balisok was convinced that her son was dead and erected the memorial stone over an empty grave.

Balisok’s mother died in 1983, maintaining to the end of her life that her son had been killed in the massacre. Perhaps it was just as well that she died when she did. In 1989, Balisok resurfaced after being charged with the attempted murder of his business partner. It turned out that Balisok had assumed a stolen identity when he first absconded and had left a trail of criminal carnage behind him ever since.^[4]

6 Jonathan And Mary Reed

They say true love is hard to find. So when you do find someone you are happy with, why let a little thing like death come between you? When Jonathan Reed’s wife, Mary, died in 1893, he laid her to rest in a mausoleum in Brooklyn and placed an empty coffin next to it for himself.

Reed decorated the tomb “like a living room in a fine house,” with a stove, paintings on the wall, a clock, and pictures of Mary. He even included his wife’s half-finished knitting and their pet parrot. When the parrot died, he had it stuffed and returned it to its perch.

Jonathan Reed visited his wife in the mausoleum every day until his death over 10 years later. He would arrive just as the cemetery opened and only left when they were locking the gates each night.

Soon he was joined by friends and then visitors from around the world, including seven Buddhist monks who traveled from Burma specifically to visit the mausoleum. Several ladies made it their mission to try to cure Jonathan Reed of his grief, although they were not successful.

In 1905, Jonathan Reed was found dead on the floor of the mausoleum. It is said that his arm was outstretched toward his wife. He was finally laid to rest beside her.^[5]

5 Giles Corey

Giles Corey was a farmer in Salem when he was accused of witchcraft in 1692. An unpopular man, he had a reputation for violence, having once been charged with beating his farmhand to death. Corey’s wife was initially charged with witchcraft, and Giles Corey even testified against her.

Then a number of villagers accused Corey of using witchcraft against them. When his accusers appeared to suffer fits in the courtroom, Corey’s hands were bound to prevent him from casting spells on them. After his arrest, he refused to testify further against his wife.

Giles Corey refused to enter a plea at the trial, and he was tortured in an attempt to make him speak. He was stripped naked and laid on the ground. Then a board was placed on top of him. Heavy stones were positioned on the board to crush him. More stones were added over several days of torture to try to compel him to speak.

Despite the torture, Corey supposedly refused to speak, except to urge his tormentors to add “more weight.” His body was ordered to be buried in an unmarked grave on Gallows Hill.

Two days after Giles Corey’s death, his wife was hanged in the same place. A simple gravestone was added at a later date with his name, the date of his death, and the legend “Pressed to Death.”^[6]

4 Robert Clay Allison

Robert Clay Allison was a gunslinger of the Old West. Having fought for the Confederacy, he became a cattle herder. In 1870, he killed Charles Kennedy by breaking into the jail where Kennedy was held, putting a rope around his neck, and dragging him behind his horse up and down the main street until he was decapitated. It wasn’t Allison’s first killing. Or, sadly, his last.

Allison was not killed in a gunfight. Instead, a freak accident took his life when a sack of grain fell from a moving wagon. As Allison reached for it, he fell and the wagon wheel ran over his head.

He is buried in Reeves County, Texas. Allison was said to have disliked his reputation as a shootist and did everything he could to live it down. Perhaps, then, he would not have been too happy with his headstone. It reads: “He never killed a man that did not need killing.”^[7]

3 Lilly E. Gray

The grave of Lilly E. Gray is perhaps the most interesting thing about her. Born in 1880, she seems to have led a fairly humdrum life until she married Elmer Gray, who had served multiple prison sentences for burglary. Elmer Gray seems to have been something of a conspiracy theorist. During one of his parole hearings, he alleged that he had been “kidnapped by five democrat officials.”

Elmer and Lilly married when she was 72 and he was just a year younger. She died of natural causes six years later.

Her life would have been entirely unremarkable, except to her family, had it not been for the headstone which Elmer Gray erected over his wife’s grave. It read: “Lilly Edith Gray, Victim of the Beast 666.”^[8]

There is no clue on the grave as to the meaning, but its ominous words have spawned dozens of theories. Most of them, shall we say, are incapable of proof. It is known that Elmer Gray in his last years had some mental health issues, so the most likely explanation is that he ordered his wife’s stone while delusional.

Still. It makes for a good story.

2 Rosalia Lombardo

Rosalia Lombardo was born in 1918 in Sicily and died just two years later. Devastated by grief, her father approached the famous embalmer Dr. Alfredo Salafia and asked him to preserve her body. Hers was one of the very last corpses to be placed in the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo.

Dr. Salafia did such a good job that Rosalia looked as though she were sleeping. Her body was placed in a glass tomb in a small chapel at the end of the catacombs. She is so lifelike that many locals believed that she was a doll. Although the body has begun to decay in recent years, Dr. Salafia’s skill was highly regarded and his embalming technique is a closely guarded secret.^[9]

Quite why Rosalia’s father wanted to preserve his daughter forever is not known. But thanks to the skills of Dr. Salafia and the Capuchin monks who guarded the tomb, Sleeping Beauty, as she came to be called, sleeps on.

1 Timothy Clark Smith

Timothy Clark Smith must have been a careful man. The sort of person who looks twice before crossing the road. During the 17th century, it is true that a large number of cases of apparently dead people narrowly escaped being buried alive. There is no way to tell how many more failed to wake up in time.

Smith was a teacher, merchant, clerk, and finally a doctor. He took a position as a staff surgeon in the Russian army and probably saw a number of disturbing near misses as part of his job. He was said to be mortally afraid of contracting sleeping sickness and waking in his grave.

So when he died in 1893, it was perhaps inevitable that he would take steps to make sure that he could attract attention if he needed to. He installed a viewing window in his coffin and ensured that the window was positioned at the bottom of a cement tube that led to the surface. It is also believed that he was buried with a hammer and chisel and held a bell in his hand to attract the attention of rescuers.^[10]

Smith’s grave can still be seen in the cemetery in Vermont, and the viewing window is still there. Unfortunately—or fortunately, depending on your point of view—Smith did not take into account the effect of condensation on the glass. It is now almost impossible to see anything in the grave below.

Ward Hazell is a writer who travels and an occasional travel writer.

Shipwrecks, sacrificial slaughter, burial rites, accidents, and flooding create watery graves. Under the proper conditions, these remains can lay undisturbed for thousands of years. The remarkable state of some submerged specimens has allowed genetic testing and analysis never previously thought possible. Watery graves provide insight into the past and pose new mysteries for the present. There may be more secrets waiting to be discovered under placid waters than we ever imagined.

10 Skeleton Lake

Roopkund Lake sits 5,000 meters (16,000 ft) above sea level in the Himalayas in India. For one month during the summer, the frozen lake’s surface melts away, revealing hundreds of human skeletons. First reported in the 19th century, the watery grave was found again by a game reserve ranger in 1942. There are so many human remains in this body of water that it has been dubbed “Skeleton Lake.”

In 1942, the remains were initially believed to be Japanese soldiers, but it soon became clear that the bones were much older. Radiocarbon testing dated the remains back to AD 850. Some have suggested that they died in an avalanche. Others proposed ritual suicide or a brutal enemy attack. A 2013 examination of the remains determined it was likely that they had died in a hailstorm. Each individual suffered blows to the upper body—but nothing below the shoulders, ruling out an avalanche or warfare.

9 Tomb Of The Sunken Skulls

In 2009, archaeologists excavating a prehistoric lake bed in Sweden unearthed the Tomb of the Sunken Skulls. Located on the eastern shore of Lake Vattern, the tomb contains a collection of 8,000-year-old skulls mounted on stakes. Researchers discovered skulls and cranial fragments from 11 individuals, including men, women, and children. Two were impaled on spikes, and others showed evidence that they once were. The grave was built on the bottom of a shallow lake. Archaeologists also discovered scattered human bones, animal remains, and tools of antler, stone, and bone.

Various theories have emerged about the mysterious tomb. Some suggest the mounted heads were trophies of enemies killed in battle. Others believe the lake was a secondary burial site. The remains would have been allowed to decompose before they were dug up and deposited in the lake. The skulls would have been used in ritual display, a process reflected in other ancient Swedish sites.

8 Black Hole

Divers discovered the oldest complete Native American remains in an underwater cave in Mexico known as Hoyo Negro, or “Black Hole.” The 12,000-year-old remains belong to a young woman whom scientists have dubbed “Naia.” She fell 30 meters (100 ft) to her death in search of water in the ancient cave, which would have been mostly dry at the time. Water levels rose between 10,000 and 4,000 years ago, flooding the Black Hole and helping to preserve her remains.

Anthropologists have long noted that early inhabitants of the Americas resembled Africans, native Australians, and indigenous people of the South Pacific more than modern Native Americans. With a narrow face, wide-set eyes, prominent forehead, flat nose, and protruding teeth, Naia is an example of this ancient morphology. Nevertheless, a genetic test revealed that Naia has maternal DNA matching modern Native Americans. This is the first genetic testing done on ancient-looking Americans.

7 Bog Massacre

Archaeologists excavating Denmark’s Alken Enge wetlands found a mass grave of over 1,000 warriors killed in battle 2,000 years ago. They were between the ages of 13 and 45, and their bones show axe and sword impacts. They may have been killed far from the burial site; bite marks on the bones suggest that they were left exposed for a long period. It’s likely that they were left to rot on the battlefield.

So far, only 90 square meters (970 ft²) of the 3,600-square-meter (39,000 ft²) site has been excavated. Archaeologists have already unearthed the remains of 240 men. During the 19th and 20th centuries, peat cutters would routinely find bones in the surrounding area. Most theorize that the remains represent a defeated army that was sacrificed to an unknown god. The bones were deposited in what was once part of Lake Mosso. The slain warriors’ origins remain unknown.

6 Sunken Sickness

In 2008, marine archaeologists exploring the sunken ruins of Neolithic Atlit Yam discovered the remains of the earliest known victims of tuberculosis. The skeletons belonged to a woman and her infant. The baby’s bone deformity suggests the mother passed the disease on shortly after birth. A DNA analysis conclusively determined the presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Located 8 to 12 meters (26–39 ft) below the Mediterranean off the coast of Haifa, Israel, Atlit Yam remains a mystery. Dating to the seventh millennium BC, the settlement contains walls, paved areas, and a semicircular structure of seven monoliths arranged around what was once a freshwater spring. No one is sure what caused the settlement to sink into the sea. A volcanic collapse of Mt. Etna 8,500 years ago could have triggered a 40-meter (130 ft) tsunami capable of devouring coastal cities in hours. However, the megaliths are still standing, which suggests slower-rising sea levels.

5 Ganges Bodies

In 2015, Indian authorities announced that 80 bodies had surfaced in Ganges River in less than a week. Villagers in Pariyar, Uttar Pradesh, discovered the bodies after noticing unusual dog and vulture activity in the area. Investigation determined that there was no foul play. These bodies, many of which were children, were consigned to the Ganges in traditional water burials and resurfaced when waters levels receded. The bodies were badly decomposed, suggesting that they had been in the water for an extended period. Sanitation workers refused to handle the grisly remains.

Water burials are illegal in India, but Hindu tradition often wins out. Unwed girls cannot be cremated; a water burial guarantees that the maiden will be reborn into the same family. The Ganges is also an attractive burial site for poor families who cannot afford cremation. It is India’s holiest river but also one of its most polluted—and water burials do not help.

4 Secrets Of Sac Uayum

Sac Uayum sinkhole in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula has long been considered haunted, and villagers refuse to go near. Legend states that a demon guards it and snatches children who get too close. It turns out that locals might have good reason to fear Sac Uayum: It is filled with human skeletons. Reaching a depth of 35 meters (115 ft), the sinkhole contains fascinating remains like a woman with an artificially elongated cranium, countless other skulls, cattle bones, and floors strewn with layers of bones from various periods.

Mayans were traditionally buried near—or even under—their houses. Sac Uayum’s bones do not exhibit any evidence of violent death, which suggests that they were not sacrificial victims. Some postulate that Sac Uayum’s bodies might be plague victims. Depositing the diseased here would keep them away from the populace and drinking water. This taboo might have lingered in the collective psyche, resulting in the avoidance of the sinkhole.

3 Submerged Slave Graves

In 2011, a record drought in Texas revealed 25 mysterious graves beneath Richland Chambers Reservoir. The burials were originally submerged in 1980, when Tarrant County Water Improvement District No. 1 flooded the area to create the man-made lake. This small cemetery had no gravestones and went unnoticed. Many believe the remains belong to former slaves who worked as sharecroppers. In 2009, boaters discovered a cranium and jawbone. Experts believed the bones were 100 to 120 years old and most likely belonged to an African American.

The more recently discovered graves belonged to children. An examination of the square-cut nails used in the coffins indicates they are from before 1890. The children were found in small wooden caskets. So far, only loose adult bones have been discovered, without caskets. No one is certain why the children were buried separately.

2 Lake Okeechobee’s Mysterious Skeletons

Florida’s Lake Okeechobee is filled with myths, legends, and skeletons. Settlers in the early 1900s routinely discovered human bones around the lake. Fisherman were used to hauling in human skulls with their nets. One early account indicated that there were so many skulls that at low water, the lake resembled a pumpkin patch. During an excavation at Grassy Island, a surveyor discovered 50 human skeletons. A massive drought hit in 1918, exposing hundreds of human remains along Ritta and Kreamer Islands.

Many speculate that the bones belong to hurricane victims. In 1928, a massive storm hit, killing as many as 2,000 people. However, this does not explain the earlier skeletal discoveries. Others have suggested warfare. However, the Battle of Okeechobee during the Second Seminole War left only 30 dead. Some historians believe the bones may be as old as 1,000 years. How they met their fate remains a mystery.

1 Antikythera’s Secret Skeleton

In 1900, sponge divers discovered a 2,000-year-old shipwreck off the coast of the Greek Island of Antikythera. However, they missed something. In 2016, marine explorers discovered human remains in the wreck. Several feet of pottery shards and sand concealed the skeleton. The subsurface conditions allowed for excellent preservation, allowing geneticists to extract DNA from the remains. Most ancient genetic samples come from Northern Europe, so the forthcoming results may prove groundbreaking.

Shipwreck victims are typically eaten by fish or swept away. Preservation only occurs if they are rapidly buried in sediment. The only other ancient shipwreck remains ever discovered were a skull found inside a Roman soldier’s helmet and a skeleton from inside a sunken sarcophagus, which disappeared before it could be examined. The Antikythera wreck has been heavily explored; imagine what ancient human remains lay hidden in less-explored wrecks.

Abraham Rinquist is the executive director of the Winooski, Vermont, branch of the Helen Hartness Flanders Folklore Society. He is the coauthor of Codex Exotica and Song-Catcher: The Adventures of Blackwater Jukebox.

Ancient burials can release a lot of information about the past. However, the rare ones often highlight the incompleteness of our known history. For some reason, the ancients mummified mice, wore bird beak collars, and put horses in boats.

When rare burials do reveal tangible information, the stories can range from the unexpected—like the Europeans who became the biblical Philistines—to the familiar urban violence of the world’s first cities.

10 The Sohag Tomb

During 2018, smugglers were caught red-handed breaking into a tomb in Egypt. Give credit where it is due—the thieves were the first to find the chamber. Located near the Egyptian town of Sohag, it was described as beautiful and colorful.

The tomb itself was created around 2,000 years ago and was painted in great detail to show funeral processions and workers toiling in the field. Although it still needs to be confirmed, the tomb originally could have belonged to a married couple. The husband was thought to be a high-ranking official called Tutu.^[1]

Two mummies were found inside, but they were not a couple. The woman, aged 35 to 50, was interred with a boy aged 12 to 14. They were surrounded by a menagerie of animal mummies, including cats and birds. For some inexplicable reason, there were also over 50 mummified mice.

9 Double Burial At Rakhigarhi

The Indus Valley produced several ancient and mysterious cities, the most famous being Mohenjo Daro. In 2016, excavations focused on a cemetery at Rakhigarhi. Located in the Indian state of Haryana, this was the biggest of the Indus settlements. The graveyard surrendered 70 burials, but one was striking enough to stand out.

The shallow grave held a man and a woman. The two skeletons were turned so that they faced each other in an intimate way. This led to the suggestion that the pair had been married in life.^[2]

They died around 4,500 years ago, but the cause of death remains mysterious. Both were in good health, and their bones showed no injuries or signs of disease. They were also young. The man was around 35, and the woman, 25.

Despite appearing in their prime, both seemingly passed away within a short time of each other. This could have prompted the community to bury the couple together, but it remains exceptionally unusual for the time.

8 An Explorer’s Grave

When Captain Matthew Flinders circumnavigated the coast of Australia, it helped to identify the landmass as a continent. In 1814, the English explorer died young at 40 and was buried close to Euston Station in London.

During 1849, the grave’s location vanished when the railway expanded and Flinders’s tombstone went missing. Given the large number of people buried there, many doubted that Flinders would ever be found again.

In 2019, the construction of a high-speed rail reached within the St. James burial ground where Flinders was interred along with 40,000 other people. Working alongside the builders, archaeologists kept an eye out for the explorer. They were lucky. One coffin had a lead plate—a good choice if you want to avoid corrosion—which identified the remains of Matthew Flinders.^[3]

7 The Siberian Birdman

In 2019, archaeologists unearthed a grave in Siberia’s Novosibirsk region. Bronze Age skeletons have been found in Siberia before, but this one stumped the experts. The man was buried 5,000 years ago with an unusual garment—a collar of bird beaks and skulls.

With the number of skulls and beaks estimated to be as high as 50, it seemed natural to name the skeleton “Birdman.” The purpose of the piece remains mysterious.^[4]

The bony parts could have protected his chest like armor. It might have been a ritual requirement, or maybe the guy just liked birds. The collar could even have been a headdress.

The Birdman was not alone. A nearby grave was divided by a wooden partition. The top part held two children who died below the age of 10. The lower part held a man buried with an unusual bronze mask. The mask and collar suggested that the two men might have been shamans.

6 A Family Murder

In 2011, a mass grave was opened near the Polish village of Koszyce. At first, it seemed like just another Bronze Age massacre. Around 5,000 years ago, 15 adults and children had their skulls bashed in.

A recent study revealed the heartbreaking story. It started when researchers realized that somebody had buried the victims with care. Soon, their DNA revealed that it was an extended family. There were few men, either very young or old for the time. Most were women and children.

Tests showed that each of the four mothers was buried next to her own children and that the fathers were not in the grave. Whoever buried the women, lovingly between grave goods and their children, knew how everyone was related.

It is thought that the strongest men, the fathers, left the homestead for the day—something the attackers were waiting for. When the men came home, they were met with the horrifying sight of their slaughtered wives, sons, and daughters.

The reason for the massacre will never be known, but it could have been intercultural violence. This group belonged to the Globular Amphora culture who was in conflict at the time with the Corded Ware people.^[5]

5 The First City Was Violent

Catalhoyuk in Turkey is viewed by many as one of the world’s first cities. Around 8,000 people crowded together during the peak of its occupation, and in 2019, archaeologists found that the close living conditions were a vector for disease and violence.

The study combed through 25 years’ worth of research done on the 32-acre site. More specifically, they reviewed the remains of 742 citizens. People lived there for around 1,000 years (7100 BC to 5950 BC). At one point, houses became so closely stacked that going home meant climbing through the roof.^[6]

The skeletons dating to Catalhoyuk’s highest population days showed an increase in violence. Women suffered more brutal blows to the head and skull fractures. The researchers felt that the switch from foraging to farming and then living in cramped conditions with disease outbreaks and people everywhere turned tempers more vicious.

4 Europe’s Record-Breaking Graves

The Sedlec Ossuary is a chapel in Czechia that dates back to around AD 1400. The site is grimly decorated with up to 70,000 skeletons. In 2017, repair work led archaeologists to 30 mass graves underneath the chapel. They contained 1,500 skeletons, which was a record for the region’s High Middle Ages and the biggest grave cluster in Europe.

The new pits were older than the chapel. Dating tests placed the remains in the 14th century, but from two different periods. The oldest marked burials from AD 1318 when famine razed the region. Younger pits from AD 1348–1350 marked the peak of the Black Plague.

All the signs suggested that the people were hastily buried, probably due to the corpses piling up and the fear of infection. Tombstones are not practical during such disasters, which was why the builders of Sedlec Ossuary likely never knew the mass graves were there.^[7]

3 Rare Boat Burials

In 2019, archaeologists worked at medieval ruins at Uppsala in Sweden. They were not looking for one of the rarest burials in existence—boats serving as coffins. Boat burials date from 550 to 1050 and were reserved for the upper crust of society.

They discovered two. The excitement hit the roof when one was found to be intact. It carried the skeleton of a man in the stern, while those of a horse and dog were arranged within the bow. The other boat was badly crushed, probably when the 16th-century well and cellar were constructed.

In Sweden, only around 10 of these boats have been recovered. A few were in terrible condition. The rest were mere soil impressions with the vessel long since destroyed by rot. This made the pristine Uppsala boat a unique and valuable find.^[8]

2 Ancestors Of The Philistines

The Philistines were often the bad guys in the Bible. The giant Goliath (whom David killed) and Delilah (who betrayed Samson) were both Philistines. Historians tried for decades to find the mysterious group’s origins, and genetic tests cracked the case in 2019.

The DNA was pulled from 10 skeletons in a Philistine cemetery in Ashkelon in Israel. These individuals, who lived around 3,600 and 2,800 years ago, revealed that the Philistines were not originally locals. Their ancestors came from seafaring cultures who crossed the Mediterranean, including people from Sardinia, Greece, and possibly Spain and Portugal.

Their southern European genes were undeniable. The different ages of the skeletons also showed that they arrived around 3,000 years ago and that their genes thinned out fast. They intermarried with the locals and were completely assimilated into the population within 200 years.^[9]

1 Britain’s Tutankhamen

In 2003, a road was expanded in Prittlewell in Essex. This led to the discovery of what archaeologists are calling “Britain’s Tutankhamen.” It was a burial chamber from the late sixth century filled with exquisite details. Unfortunately, all the organic stuff was gone. However, there was enough to understand how the chamber was crafted and that the occupant was a high-status male who had been rich and powerful in life.

The main candidate is an Anglo-Saxon prince named Seaxa. When the man died, about 13 oak trees were felled to create the tomb. It required the strength of teams, numbering up to 25 and working in shifts, to complete it.

Among the grave goods was a musical instrument called a lyre. This particular lyre had parts connecting it to Sri Lanka or the Indian subcontinent. There were also gold foil crosses, a surprisingly early mark of Christianity for the region.

Both crushed the belief that Essex was the Anglo-Saxon backwater of its time. Instead, Essex likely had long-reaching trade routes and was at the forefront of religious and cultural changes.^[10]

In 2013, the remains of King Richard III were found in the unlikely location under a carpark (parking lot) in Leicester, England. This highlighted how some of the tombs of famous historical figures could be found in the most unlikely places with persistent research and hunting. Some tombs may be lost forever, but the discovery of Richard III’s remains reignites the hope that other lost remains could be found. Here are 10 famous figures whose graves have never been found and the stories behind their lost tombs.

Related: Top 10 Unusual Discoveries Inside Graves Near The Nile

10 Genghis Khan

The fact that we are yet to find Genghis Khan’s final resting place shows that the Mongolian leader’s intentions were met. Chinese and Persian sources suggest that Khan died in 1227 during a campaign in China and his son returned his body to Mongolia.

Soldiers honored Khan’s request to keep the gravesite a secret. They apparently did this by hiding the grave by trampling over it with 10,000 horses until the ground was even and diverted a river over it to protect it from robbery. They also killed anyone who saw the funeral so that no one could reveal the location. It is now one of the most sought-after tombs amongst archaeologists, with many scholars believing that Khan was buried in the Khentii mountain range in Mongolia.^[1]

9 Cleopatra & Mark Antony

The famous double suicide of the couple took place around 30 BC after Octavian (later known as Emperor Augustus) pursued them to Alexandria. Whilst it is widely agreed the Mark Antony stabbed himself in the stomach, there is still debate regarding Cleopatra’s death. Legend says she got an asp to bite her arm, whilst some say she was known for carrying deadly poison in her hairpins which she could’ve used, or she may have applied a deadly “ointment.”

Ancient chronicler Plutarch had much to say about their burial. He stated that they were laid to rest in “splendid and regal fashion” in a tomb near Alexandria, although he admitted that “what really took place is known to no one.” In 2009, archaeologists explored the Taposiris Magna temple in Absuir, Egypt. There they found a bust featuring Cleopatra’s visage, a mask believed to have belonged to Mark Antony, and coins with their likeness. All of this suggested that the couple weren’t far from this location. There’s some evidence to suggest Cleopatra built a tomb for herself before her death, whilst some believe that their tombs are at the bottom of the ocean, with underwater excavations occurring over the years.^[2]

8 Alexander the Great

After leading a decade-long conquest mission from Greece to India, Alexander the Great died in Babylon in 323 BC. He was originally buried in a gold sarcophagus in Memphis, Egypt, and was then moved to Alexandria sometime between 293-283 BC. The military leader’s tomb was treated almost like a god’s temple, with Roman Emperors such as Caesar and Augustus visiting.

The tomb was also repeatedly robbed. Caligula supposedly took his armor breastplate in the 1st century AD; Cleopatra allegedly took gold to fund the war against Augustus. The gold sarcophagus was apparently melted down and replaced with one of glass or crystal. Emperor Septimus Severus had the tomb sealed in AD 190. This still didn’t make the tomb secure, as in AD 360, several events, including wars, riots, earthquakes, and a tsunami, threatened and potentially destroyed the tomb. Over 140 searches have tried and failed; most believe the tomb still lies in Alexandria.^[3]

7 Attila the Hun

As ruler of the Huns, Attila established himself as one of the greatest enemies of the Roman Empire. According to records, in 453, Attila died on his wedding night with blood running from his nose and mouth. Warriors honored his death with a day of mourning and reportedly cut off their hair and slit their cheeks to mourn his death with their own blood. He was buried in a trio of caskets, made of iron, silver, and gold, and, similar to Genghis Khan, a river was diverted to hide the grave, and everyone who dug the grave was killed to keep the location a secret.

In 2014, construction workers in Budapest claimed to have found his burial site- finding a chamber with human and horse skeletons, jewelry, and tactical equipment- but was quickly disproved as a hoax. Although no trace of Attila or his coffin has been found, it is widely believed that he is buried in Hungary.^[4]

6 Leonardo Da Vinci

Passing away at age 67 in 1519, da Vinci was supposedly originally buried beneath a church that was later destroyed during the French Revolution. In 1863, an excavation found tombstone fragments and the remainder of some bones, which are supposedly da Vinci’s. While his official resting place is Chateau d’Amboise, France, it is still unknown whether these actually are Da Vinci’s remains.

Scientists have wanted to do DNA testing on the remains, but as Leonardo Da Vinci never had children, it poses a difficult problem. In 2016, Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato identified descendants of da Vinci’s half-brother. There are plans to compare this DNA with a lock of hair that is potentially da Vinci’s.^[5]

5 Harold II

Harold II famously died in 1066 at The Battle of Hastings, fighting William the Conqueror. Allegedly, his body was so mangled that only his common-law wife Edith Swannesha (Swan-Neck) could identify him. Harold’s mother Gytha supposedly offered William Harold’s bodyweight in gold in return for the body so that he could have a Christian burial. However, William the Conqueror refused as he didn’t want Harold’s burial site to become a shrine for Saxons.

While it is unclear what exactly happened to the body, Rosemary Nicolaou from the Battle Abbey Museum said that “there are various stories including his mother finally getting the body or it being taken by monks to Waltham Abbey, but nothing has been proved.”^[6] In 2003, a request to exhume a grave in Bosham Church was refused as the chances of identifying the remains as Harold II was ruled highly unlikely.

4 Queen Boudicca

The Celtic Queen led an uprising against the Romans, including defense from excessive tax, property lost, and enslavement under the Roman Empire. She died in AD 60 and, although it is unknown how she died, it is generally believed that she died by suicide in order to avoid capture. (27)

Chances are Boudicca’s remains will never be found. Richard Hingley states that “it is unlikely that Boudicca would have had a burial monument, most Iron Age people in this region were disposed of in ways that do not show up in the archaeological record.”^[7] There are rumors that she is buried under platform 8,9 or 10 at King’s Cross Station, London, but there have been no traces of her found here or anywhere else.

3 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Everything surrounding the composer’s death is a mystery. In 1791, at age 35, he died in Vienna of a mysterious illness. He was buried in St. Mark’s Cemetery, Vienna, and the funeral was arranged by his friend and patron, Baron Gottfried Van Swieten. The body was placed in a wooden coffin in a common grave. Despite what some people claim, this does not necessarily mean a pauper or shared grave. Due to local law, however, graves could be dug up and reused after 10 years, which is assumed what happened with Mozart.

In 1801 a gravedigger claimed he had recovered the skull, and by 1902, it was given to Salzburg’s International Mozarteum. In 2006, scientists tested the skull to determine if it belonged to Mozart. Unfortunately, the results were inconclusive, leaving a big question mark still hanging over whether the skull is, in fact, his.^[8]

2 Alfred the Great

The only English king to be called “the great,” Alfred of Wessex is pretty significant in the history of the British monarchy. Yet his body had been passed from one place to the next. He was first buried in 899 in Winchester but moved to a new church his son Edward built in 903-904. By 1110, his body was moved again to Hyde Abbey alongside his wife and son. However, sometime after Henry VIII broke ties with Rome and the Pope, the abbey was destroyed, and the tomb was ransacked. Some claim that they were moved again to St. Bartholomew’s Parish Church, while others argue that 18th-century construction workers scattered the bones on the site of Hyde Abbey.

There have been several attempts to find the tomb without success. Winchester City Council commissioned an excavation, but only one body was found, which belonged to a woman. St. Bartholomew’s had commissioned 3 archaeologists to excavate an unmarked grave thought to be Alfred’s final resting place. Bones have been put in a secure location, waiting for further study.^[9]

1 Nefertiti

Very little is actually known about this Queen of Egypt, so archaeologists hope finding her grave will shed some light on the mysterious Royal Wife. In the 1880s, a multichambered tomb, later named Amarna 26, was discovered in Amarna, Egypt. Archaeologists are confident that the tomb belongs to Akhenaten, an 18th Dynasty pharaoh, and his daughter Meketaten. Despite the tomb being damaged, it was apparent that the third chamber was unfinished and the resident unknown.

Some archaeologists believe that this belonged to Nefertiti, Akhenaten’s wife, although there is a dispute. Archaeologist Barry Kemp stated that “nothing found in the tomb suggests that it had housed burial equipment for her;” therefore, it cannot be confirmed that this was her final resting place. With a big question mark hanging over Nefertiti and who she really was, the search for her grave remains high on archaeologists’ list of hopeful discoveries.^[1]