mass grave

Mass grave of 26 victims of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, excavated in 2014

A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. Mass graves are usually created after many people die or are killed, and there is a desire to bury the corpses quickly for sanitation concerns. Although mass graves can be used during major conflicts such as war and crime, they may also be used after a famine, epidemic, or natural disaster. In disasters, mass graves are used temporarily for infection and disease control. In such cases, there is often a breakdown of the social infrastructure that would enable proper identification and the individual disposal of each body.