Since the beginning of civilization, every culture has exhibited ways of keeping alive the memory of the dead. The ancient Egyptians believed that statues of the dead, once animated through ritual breathing, could appear at various locations. Other cultures created wax or plaster death masks and displayed portraits of the deceased in their parlors.
The Victorians, perhaps the most death-obsessed folks since the Egyptians, filled their homes with pictures of the deceased and wore locks of the dead person’s hair in their jewelry. Even today, some nomadic Arctic tribes carve wooden effigies of the departed to sleep with or keep them company on family picnics.