Kinship Patterns

While wandering around the Ross Bay Cemetery looking for the grave monuments of young children, we came across a few monuments that were devoted to kin groups.  We also noticed that many of the deceased were buried next to close members of their family (mother, father, brother, sister).  The monuments were usually much larger (in width and height) than the gravestones for an individual.  A few of them were tall, rectangular shapes with 3 or 4 sides dedicated to the inscription of the family names.  If archaeologists in the future look at these monuments, they might infer that these were the burials of an important political leader, or that they were a member of some sort of royal family.  It is common for royal kins to want to be buried in the same plot.  When looking at the remains, they might also interpret this as a sacrificial burial. For example, maybe the parents were sacrificed to be buried with their child who passed away, or vice versa.