The Evolution of the deaths head The evolution of the deaths head Trinity Churchyard manhattan ny 1681 Old hill burying ground concord ma 1712 Trinity churchyard Manhattan ny 1721 ID: 586131
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Slide1
By Zeki Hirsch
The Evolution of the death’s headSlide2
The evolution of the death’s headSlide3
Trinity Churchyard
manhattan, ny
1681Slide4
Old hill burying ground
concord, ma
1712Slide5
Trinity churchyard
Manhattan, ny
1721Slide6
Old hill burying ground
concord, ma
1735Slide7
Trinity churchyard
Manhattan, ny
1764Slide8
Old hill burying ground
concord, ma
1766Slide9
Trinity Churchyard
manhattan, ny
1770Slide10
Trinity churchyard
manhattan, ny
1772Slide11
Old hill burying ground
concord, ma
1791Slide12
Trinity churchyard
manhattan, ny
1794Slide13
St. paul’s chapel
manhattan, ny
1795Slide14
St. paul’s chapel
manhattan, ny
1802Slide15
Old hill burying ground
concord, ma
1807Slide16
AfterwordSlide17
Up
and down the coast of New England, cemeteries are dotted across the land. Older burial grounds, newer ones, and especially churchyards. In these strange, beautiful necropolises lie the remains of those before us. The tombstones are elegantly carved, and represent not only the dead, but the spirit of the times. Modern day visitors don’t exactly pay much attention to the centuries-old symbolism in cemeteries at all. But symbolism abounds. The “Death’s Head” is very hard to avoid. These unique motifs were first seen in the late 17
th
century. They are exactly what they sound like: A skull or a skull with wings. Over the decades, this beauty has changed; originally it symbolized the macabre feelings associated with death. But evolved in the mid-1700s into a cherub -- a more hopeful symbol of the Christian afterlife.
By
the turn of the 19
th
century a new symbol emerged: the urn and willow.
Historians
don’t agree on what the urn and willow
symbolize. Some
say they are inspired by ancient Greek symbols of mortality.
Others
say they represent the people who mourn the dead, not the dead, themselves
.
I
hope you learned about the changing face of tombstones.
The evolution of the death’s head