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ERICH LESSING/ART RESOURCE, NY

PUNIC TOPHET. Pictured above is the Punic tophet at Carthage, one of the Phoenicians’ western colonies. Phoenician burials have been uncovered throughout the Mediterranean world. Beginning in the Iron Age, the Phoenicians generally burned their dead, placed the ashes in urns, buried the urns and set up stelae to mark these burials. The stelae often included the name of the deceased and the gods to whom the deceased was consecrated. The Phoenicians adopted other burial methods as well, but tophets remained their trademark.