Broken Column or Tree Trunk – “Life cut short” “Life left unfinished when cut off by death”
Usually found on the grave of a young person.
Dog – Signifying the loyalty and that the master was worth loving.
Draped Urn – Sorrow, Mourning
Eagle – Suggests courage and possibly a military career, symbol for Saint John
Lamb – “Purity, Innocence, Gentleness, Sacrifice” when you see a lamb on a grave it’s usually
a young child.
Obelisks – A four-sided, tapering shaft having a pyramidal point; a gravemarker type popularized
by romantic taste for classical imagery.
Open Gates – Afterlife, the soul ebtering heaven.
Owl – Wisdom
Rooster – Awakening, Resurrection
Stones on Grave – Tradition for each visitor to a Jewish grave site to place a single stone on
the monument. When the tradition started, grave monuments were mounds of stones. Visitors added
stones to "the mound" to show we are never finished building the monument to the deceased. It tells
visitors that follow that others had also visited the grave.
Swallow – Indicates a child or motherhood
Tree Trunk – Brevity of life
Upside-Down Torches – A symbol of death