Talk:Marion Cemetery Receiving Vault

The purpose of the vault
The purpose of the vault was NOT to avoid grave robbery, but to act as a receiving vault until the grave could be dug. Lacking modern refrigeration, to preserve the remains and prevent decay prior to burial, a burial vault acts as holding vault. Vaults in the 1800s were still dug by hand. Extreme ground moisture in the summer making digging difficult, or extreme cold in the winter when the ground needed to warm to the point of a thaw, prevented the digging of graves. Bodies were not held until they decomposed, there wasn’t sufficient room in this vault given the size of Marion in the 1870s-1900s to store large numbers of bodies for a protracted period of time. Cleveexpat (talk) 18:11, 7 July 2024 (UTC)