Daily AncestorCrossed bones
Crossed bones on an old gravestone, often under a skull, are a plain reminder of mortality, common on colonial stones of the 1600s and 1700s.
Two long bones crossed beneath a skull belong to the stark early style of colonial gravestones, along with coffins, hourglasses and gravediggers' tools. The message was simply that death comes to all.
Similar carvings appear in European churchyards, and settlers likely brought the habit with them. By 1800 skull and bone carvings had become rare on New England stones as softer images took over. Crossed bones are a dating clue, not information about the person.
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Daily Ancestor. "Crossed bones." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/gravestone-symbols/crossed-bones. Last checked 2026-10-15.