The World’s Five Most Unusual Cemeteries

Discovered in the 1920s, the Peruvian Chauchilla cemetery is said to date back to the 9th century AD. For nearly 700 years, the cemetery was host to many burials and currently serves as a rich source for archaeological knowledge concerning ancient Nazca culture. The most unusual part of the cemetery, however, is the perfect preservation of the bodies inside of it. Due to the dry climate in the Peruvian Desert and the funerary practices that included resin on clothing to keep out insects, the bodies are a scientist’s dream.

Ale’s Stones is a megalithic monument located in Scania, Sweden, and consists of a stone ship formed by 59 large sandstone boulders. Many speculate that the monument is 5,000 years old, and according to Scanian folklore, it also houses the remains of the legendary King Ale.

The Russian village of Dargavs, or the City of the Dead, boasts a cemetery with almost 100 ancient stone crypts. The City of the Dead has its roots in the beginning of the 14th century as a sacred place where residents buried their loved ones along with clothes and belongings.

Located in Najaf, Iraq, Wadi-us-Salaam translates as the Valley of Peace and is one of the largest cemeteries in the world. The cemetery is a popular destination for Prophets and the proletariat as it contains approximately five million bodies.

Constructed from a thin, tabular and twelve foot long capstone, Poulnabrone Dolmen, or “Hole of Sorrows,” is a portal tomb located in Ireland and is thought to have been in existence for 6,000 years. Eerily enough, remains of one newborn baby, six juveniles, and 16 to 22 adults have been found in the chamber, its portico, and in the crevices in the limestone floor.