Tombs and Tombstones

What Lies Beneath the Vatican of the Zapotecs?

An archaeological expedition in Mexico seeks what’s left of the sprawling, centuries-old catacombs hidden below the ruins of Mitla.

America’s Black Cemeteries and Three Women Trying to Save Them

In Georgia, Texas and Washington, D.C., three Black women are working to preserve desecrated African American burial grounds and the stories they hold.

Egypt’s Government Is Bulldozing the City of the Dead

The dead are being exhumed and the living are being evicted to make way for President Sisi’s Pharaonic fantasies.

In Istanbul, Tombs of Religious Figures Still Draw Pilgrims

Turkey’s largest city is dotted with the tombs of religious figures, where pilgrims seek divine intervention. “When you ask for something from God, those who are beloved by God can be a go-between.”

In a Roman Tomb, ‘Dead Nails’ Reveal an Occult Practice

Forty-one bent or twisted iron nails, unearthed from a second-century imperial burial site, were meant to keep the deceased in their place.