Talk:Columbarium

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Ancient calumbaria are found in caves dating from at least as early as 1000 BCE in the foothills of the Judean Hills in Israel.

Archaeologists theorize that pigeons/doves were kept in the little pockets of the columbarium, and used for meat, their manure, and possibly messaging (carrier pigeons) as well.

Evidence for using the columbarium for storing cremated human remains is non-existent in these caves, and the fact that there are hundreds of actual burial caves in the area also tends to contradict the idea of cremation and storage in a columbarium.

When did it occur that columbaria began to be used for cremation remains burial? Medieval dovecotes were not a rarity, but how did they come eventually to be associated completely with the internment of ashes?

68.164.170.178 00:12, 31 May 2007 (UTC)