View source for Ossuary

{{Short description|Container for dead remains}}
{{for|the Dionne Brand book|Ossuaries (poetry collection)}}

{{more citations needed|date=May 2021}}
{{multiple image
| title = Ossuaries
| perrow = 2
| total_width= 350
| image1 = JamesOssuary-1-.jpg
| image2 = Poland - Czermna - Chapel of Skulls - interior 01.jpg
| image3 = Sedlec Ossuary chandelier.JPG
| image4 = Gallipolifrenchossuary.jpg
| caption1 = The limestone [[James Ossuary]] from the 1st century
| caption2 = Human remains on the walls and ceiling of [[Skull Chapel]], [[Poland]]
| caption3 = A chandelier made of bones in [[Sedlec Ossuary]], [[Czech Republic]]
| caption4 = Ossuary at the [[Gallipoli]] battlefield; contains the remains of [[World War I|French soldiers]]
}}
An '''ossuary''' is a chest, box, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the skeletal remains are removed and placed in an ossuary ("os" is "bone" in [[Latin]]<ref>{{cite web| url= https://www.funeralguide.co.uk/blog/what-is-an-ossuary| website= funeralguide.co.uk| title= What is an ossuary?| publisher= Funeral Zone Ltd| date= 20 May 2019| access-date= 27 December 2020}}</ref>). The greatly reduced space taken up by an ossuary means that it is possible to store the remains of many more people in a single [[tomb]] than possible in [[coffin]]s. The practice is sometimes known as '''grave recycling'''.

==Persian ossuaries==
[[File:Zoroastrian ossuary, 7th-8th century CE, Hirman Tepe, Uzbekistan.jpg|thumb|left|A Zoroastrian ossuary, 7–8th century CE, Hirman Tepe, Uzbekistan<ref name="SPL155">{{cite book |last1=Frantz |first1=Grenet |title=Splendeurs des oasis d'Ouzbékistan |date=2022 |publisher=Louvre Editions |location=Paris |isbn=978-8412527858 |page=157}}</ref>]]
In [[Persia]], the [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrians]] used a deep well for this function from the earliest times (c. 3,000 years ago) and called it ''[[Tower of Silence|astudan]]'' (literally, "the place for the bones"). There are many rituals and regulations in the Zoroastrian faith concerning the ''astudans''.

==Jewish ossuaries==

During the [[Second Temple period]], Jewish burial customs were varied, differing based on class and belief. For the wealthy,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Figueras |first=Pau |title=Decorated Jewish Ossuaries |publisher=Brill Academic Publishers |year=1983 |location=Leiden |pages=10}}</ref> one option available included primary burials in burial caves, followed by [[secondary burial]]s in ossuaries. These bone boxes were placed in smaller niches of the burial caves, on the benches used for the [[desiccation]] of the corpse, or even on the floor.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rachel |first=Hachlili |title=Jewish Funerary Customs, Practices, and Rites in the Second Temple Period |publisher=Brill Academic Publishers |year=2005 |location=Leiden |pages=357}}</ref> These ossuaries are almost exclusively made of [[limestone]], roughly 40% of which are decorated with intricate geometrical patterns.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rhamani |first=Levi |title=A Catalogue of Jewish Ossuaries |publisher=The Israel Antiquities Authority and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities |year=1994 |location=Jerusalem |pages=6}}</ref> Many ossuaries, plain or decorated, feature inscriptions identifying the deceased. These inscriptions are the chief scholarly source for identifying naming conventions in this region during this period.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Evans |first=Craig |title=Jesus and the Ossuaries |publisher=Baylor University Publishers |year=2003 |location=Baylor |pages=15}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rhamani |first=Levi |title=A Catalogue of Jewish Ossuaries |publisher=The Israel Antiquities Authority and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities |year=1994 |location=Jerusalem |pages=10}}</ref>[[Image:Ossuary inscription shalam zion.gif|thumb|Jewish ossuary inscription from [[Second Temple period]]]]Among the best-known Jewish ossuaries of this period are: an ossuary inscribed 'Simon the [[Temple in Jerusalem|Temple]] builder' in the collection of the [[Israel Museum]]; one inscribed 'Yehohanan ben Hagkol' that contained an iron nail in a heel bone suggesting [[crucifixion]]; another, (owned by [[André Lemaire]]), inscribed '[[James ossuary|James]] son of Joseph, brother of Jesus', the authenticity of which has been debated by scholars{{who|date=January 2023}}; and ten ossuaries recovered from the [[Talpiot Tomb]] in 1980, several of which are reported to have names recorded in the [[New Testament]]. 
[[File:Ossuaries_of_Jesus_son_of_Joseph_and_more.JPG|thumb|Ossuaries from the [[Talpiot Tomb]], displayed at the [[Israel Museum]]]]
Geographically, ossuaries are almost exclusively associated with tombs in and around [[Jerusalem]]; however, caches of contemporaneous ossuaries have been discovered in [[Jericho]].

There is ongoing scholarly disagreement as to the function and origin of ossuary burial. Some argue that this form of burial was born out of a theological shift in ideas about purity. Specifically, in the [[Mishnah]] and [[Talmud]], Jewish sages from the period are depicted debating the methods and beliefs around ossuary burial. The perspectives they espouse are connected to the [[Pharisees|Pharisaic]] tradition; as such, it is speculated that ossuaries were developed by elite members of the Pharisaic religious school before spreading to other sects.

Others argue that material conditions of the elite have more influence on ossuaries use and form during this period. An increase in wealth among the urban elite in Jerusalem and Jericho, coupled with a building boom that created a surplus of stonemasons, allowed for new kinds of burial to evolve. It has been observed that ossuaries follow philosophically with Greco-Roman ideas of individuality in death and physically with Hellenistic forms of chest burial; as such, ossuaries may be an elite imitation of imperial burial modes that did not violate Jewish cultural norms.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fine |first=Steven |date=September–October 2001 |title=Why Bone Boxes? |journal=Biblical Archaeology Review |volume=27:5 |pages=41}}</ref>

The custom of secondary burial in ossuaries, on a whole, did not persist among Jews past the Second Temple period nor appear to exist widely among Jews outside the [[Land of Israel]]. There are, of course, exceptions to every trend: after the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|destruction of the Second Temple]], poor imitations of ossuaries made of clay were created in [[Galilee]];<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Aviam, Syon |first=Mordechai, Danny |date=2002 |title=Jewish Ossilegium in Galilee |journal=What Athens Has to do with Jerusalem: Essays on Classical, Jewish, and Early Christian Art and Archaeology in Honor of Gideon Foester |pages=151–187}}</ref> the last stone ossuaries are found in the [[Beit She'arim necropolis|Beth She'arim necropolis]] and date from the late third century CE; and at least one ossuary dating from the Second Temple period has been discovered in [[Alexandria]].

==In Christianity==

=== Roman Catholic ossuaries ===
[[Image:San Bernardino ossuary 2.jpg|thumb|The ossuary of [[San Bernardino alle Ossa]] in [[Milan]].]]
Many examples of ossuaries are found within Europe, including the [[Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini]] in [[Rome]], Italy; the [[Martyrs of Otranto]] in south Italy; the [[Fontanelle cemetery]] and [[Purgatorio ad Arco, Naples|Purgatorio ad Arco]] in [[Naples]], Italy; the [[San Bernardino alle Ossa]] in [[Milan]], Italy; the [[Brno Ossuary]] and the [[Sedlec Ossuary]] in the Czech Republic; the [[Skull Chapel in Czermna|Czermna Skull Chapel]] in Poland; and the [[Capela dos Ossos]] ("Chapel of Bones") in [[Évora]], Portugal. The village of [[Wamba, Valladolid|Wamba]] in the province of [[Valladolid]], Spain, has an impressive ossuary of over a thousand skulls inside the local church, dating from between the 12th and 18th centuries. A more recent example is the [[Douaumont ossuary]] in [[France]], which contains the remains of more than 130,000 French and German soldiers that fell at the [[Battle of Verdun]] during [[World War I]]. The [[Catacombs of Paris]] represents another famous ossuary.

The [[catacombs]] beneath the [[Monastery of San Francisco, Lima|Monastery of San Francisco]] in [[Lima]], Peru also contain an ossuary.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://random-times.com/2019/07/13/skulls-and-bones-at-san-francisco-monastery-catacombs-in-lima-peru/|title=Skulls and bones at San Francisco Monastery catacombs in Lima, Peru| author= Ivan| website= random-times.com| date=July 13, 2019| access-date= December 27, 2020}}</ref>

==== Largest ossuary ====
[[File:Köln st ursula goldene kammer02.jpg|thumb|The Ursulakammer in the [[Basilica of St. Ursula, Cologne|Basilica of St. Ursula]] in [[Cologne]], where in the 17th century the largest mosaic in human bones ever was created, that covers the four walls of the room.<ref>{{cite web |last=Koudounaris |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Koudounaris |title=Skeletons of the week, August 12: The Relics in the Ursulakammer in Cologne |url=http://empiredelamort.com/skeletonoftheweek/skeletons-of-week-august-12-the-relics-in-the-ursulakammer-in-cologne/ |website=empiredelamort.com}}</ref>]]
{{main article|Catacombs of Paris}}

The skeletal remains of six million people lie, neatly arranged, in catacombs (also known as ossuaries or charnel houses) beneath the streets of [[Paris]], France. The city has an estimated {{convert|300|km|mi}} of tunnels and pathways, of which {{convert|11,000|sqm|acres}} are packed tightly with the bones of those re-interred from the city's overflowing cemeteries in the late 1700s.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/guinnessworldrec00/page/125 |title=Guinness World Records 2011 |publisher=Guinness World Records |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-904994-57-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/guinnessworldrec00/page/125 125]}}</ref>

=== Eastern Orthodox ossuaries ===
[[Image:GreekOssuaries.JPG|thumb|Contemporary [[Greece|Greek]] ossuaries made of wood and metal.]]

The use of ossuaries is a longstanding tradition in the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]. The remains of an Orthodox Christian are treated with special reverence, in conformity with the biblical teaching that the body of a believer is a "temple of the Holy Spirit",<ref>{{bibleverse|1|Corinthians|6:19|KJV}}</ref> having been [[sanctification|sanctified]] and [[Transfiguration (religion)|transfigured]] by [[Baptism]], [[Holy Communion]] and the participation in the [[Sacred Mysteries|mystical life]] of the Church.<ref>{{Citation
  | last = Ware
  | first = Timothy
  | author-link = Timothy Ware
  | title = The Orthodox Church
  | place = London
  | publisher = Penguin Books
  | orig-year = 1963
  | year = 1964
  | chapter = God and Man
  | page = [https://archive.org/details/orthodoxchurchac00ware/page/239 239]
  | isbn = 0-14-020592-6
  | chapter-url-access = registration
  | chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/orthodoxchurchac00ware/page/239
  }}</ref> In Orthodox [[monastery|monasteries]], when one of the brethren dies, his remains are buried (for details, see [[Christian burial]]) for one to three years, and then disinterred, cleaned and gathered into the monastery's [[charnel house]]. If there is reason to believe that the departed is a [[saint]], the remains may be placed in a [[reliquary]]; otherwise the bones are usually mingled together (skulls together in one place, [[long bone]]s in another, etc.). The remains of an [[abbot]] may be placed in a separate ossuary made out of wood or metal.

The use of ossuaries is also found among the [[laity]] in the [[Greek Orthodox Church]]. The departed will be buried for one to three years and then, often on the anniversary of death, the family will gather with the [[parish priest]] and celebrate a ''[[parastas]]'' (memorial service), after which the remains are disinterred, washed with wine, perfumed, and placed in a small ossuary of wood or metal, inscribed with the name of the departed, and placed in a room, often in or near the church, which is dedicated to this purpose.

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=23em}}
* [[Aircraft boneyard]]
* [[Charnel house]]
* [[Columbarium]]
* [[Crypt]]
* [[Mausoleum]]
* [[Sarcophagus]]
* [[Tzompantli]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{commons category|Ossuaries}}
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{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Ossuaries|*]]
[[Category:Burial monuments and structures]]