On Nov 26, 2011, at 10:18 AM, Larry Colen wrote: >> The shape of the cutout mimics that of old coffins. There's not much to >> scale it by, but it appears to be sized for an infant's or a small child's >> coffin. Beyond that, I have not a clue. > > I suspect that it may be used for graveside services, to hold the coffin in > the grave, but next to the surface where it's visible. After everyone goes > home, the staff laborers lift the whole assembly out of the ground, lower the > coffin into place, and fill the hole with dirt. The metal flanges are > probably covered with astroturf during the ceremony.
Sorry, I sent my previous response too early. It seems my mail program had split this into two separate threads. One of my thoughts was that it might have been some kind of aid in constructing coffins but there's no reason for that to be at the grave yard. I suspect you may be on to something. If I ever get around to it I might make some enquiries with a museum or something. BTW I don't think they would have had astroturf when this thing was in regular use, perhaps cloth would have been more accurate. Actually I think that's what they usually use today. Dave -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
