Walking on death: Gravestones used as floors

Abstract

A random finding showed that the marble tile floors from  Carrara that form the paths surrounding the former Town Hall of Belgrano, built in 1875 and a museum since 1938, are made of tombstones. We hypothesise that these pieces came from cemeteries in the town and date their placement in 1908. The event -which at another time would have been sacrilegious- was interpreted as evidence of the end of the conflict between the State and the Church over control of the administration of death. It is worth remembering that during the last decades of the 19th century there were strong controversies in the Republic of Argentina about the definitive secularisation of death. The destruction of the floor surrounding the building without any form of archaeological control resulted in the loss of evidence that could have contributed to the understanding of how this process took place. The fact that political differences prevented the archaeological work serve to understand the problems that afflict archaeology, museums and national heritage, due to the growing politicisation of decisions and the discretional management of resources.