The Dead in the Lives of the Living: A Socio Cultural Survey of Burial Sites in the Niger Delta

Abstract

Burial sites come into existence only after death. Death is therefore a unique phenomenon which we either appreciate or denigrate. The death of an individual may bring sorrow to some, great relief and joy to others and often captured or marked by a burial site. It is the inevitability of death and the African understanding that the dead are not dead and gone, that informs this exercise. This paper attempts to examine the meaning of death, the beauty of death, types of burial sites and the place or importance of the dead in the life of the living. It then concludes with the view that History is incomplete without the history of the dead dotted round our society.