Casket

The end of a person’s life becomes the moment for farewell ceremonies. In the Pre-Hispanic world life did not end in death, and the deceased went on to become ancestors who accompanied community members on a daily basis. Mortuary practices in what is now present-day Colombia were many and varied: corpses were buried in small graves for just one person, or in large tombs alongside a number of other individuals. Tombs could be simple in design or monumental. Bodies were placed into the earth or into sarcophagi with possessions which displayed their social standing, or the role of the deceased person. Primary burials meant the body was buried just once in the ground, whereas secondary burials meant that the skeletal remnants were disinterred and placed into funeral urns. Death is synonymous with history, and its remembrance means that time remains unforgotten.