什麼是墳墓

指死人的安身之處；廣義言之泛指各種型別的墓葬、紀念館和陵園。史前的墳墓古塚或塚（人造的土山或石山，並打樁固定），通常建於死者生前生活的小屋周圍，小屋中存有死者來世用的個人財物。古塚是日本古墳時代（西元3～6世紀）的顯著特徵，這些巍峨壯觀的古塚，土丘狀如鍵孔，周圍有壕溝環繞。古塚的形狀有時與某些動物形狀相似，體現了西元前1000～西元700年間北美洲中東部印第安諸文化的特徵。隨著科技的發展，由磚塊和石頭砌成的墳墓出現，大小通常令人歎服。在埃及，墳墓是非常重要的，特別是金字塔的造型。在中世紀基督教中，墳墓被看作是亡靈在天堂之家的象徵，這種概念也出現於羅馬人的地下墓窟中，地下墓窟四周的牆壁上通常都刻有天堂的圖案。自文藝復興以來，墳墓是「死人之家」的概念在西方絕跡，只有陵墓和近代的地窖公墓還可以稍微聯想到此一概念。亦請參閱beehive tomb、cenotaph、mastaba、stele。

tomb

Home or house for the dead. The term is applied loosely to all kinds of graves, funerary monuments, and memorials. Prehistoric tomb burial mounds, or barrows (artificial hills of earth and stones piled over the remains), were usually built around a hut containing personal effects for use in the afterlife. Burial mounds were a prominent feature of the Tumulus period in Japan (3rd-6th century); these often spectacular monuments consisted of earthen keyhole-shaped mounds surrounded by moats. Burial mounds, sometimes shaped like animals, were characteristic also of Indian cultures of eastern central North America c. 1000 BC-AD 700. With more advanced technology, brick and stone tombs appeared, often of imposing size. In Egypt tombs assumed great importance, especially in the form of pyramids. In medieval Christian thought, the tomb became a symbol of a heavenly home; this concept appeared in the Roman catacombs, whose walls display scenes of paradise. Since the Renaissance, the idea of the tomb as a home has died out in the West, except as a faint reminiscence in the mausoleums or vaults of modern cemeteries. See also beehive tomb, cenotaph, mastaba, stele.