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I always find The Shire to be the most 'complete' community or society within Middle Earth - at least to my modern eyes - it has some kind of governmental structure, trade, clearly delineated districts, and many of the other aspects we might expect from a community. In contrast, other socieites seem to be lacking in essential aspects; Rohan for example does not appear to have a structure in place for trade, which may tie in with its feudal nature, but as Anglo-Saxon society had this, I would have expected to see it in Rohan.
As to why there are no graveyards in The Shire, it might simply be that Tolkien saw no need to write them into the story. Tragedies do happen in The Shire, such as The battle of Bywater, but it is essentailly viewed as an idyllic, bucolic place, and to mention such as graveyards might have affected the mood somewhat. As pure speculation on my part, maybe Hobbits followed the 'green burial' ideal, burying their dead in an eco-friendly fashion in green fields, or maybe even in their own gardens - but as I say, that's pure speculation!
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Gordon's alive!
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