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Hiding in tombs is a last-ditch, desperate act. It definitely isn’t a desecration by Christian standards: the during the persecutions of the Roman emperors before Constantine, Christians were famous for hiding in the catacombs of Rome; in Paris, they also hid in the catacombs. The people who do this are not to disturb the bodies except as a last resort: but the idea is that the souls are gone, the bodies are empty, and if necessary, corpses may even be destroyed at the utmost effort if the living can thereby survive. Friar Lawrence did not believe it a desecration for Juliet to “hide” in her family tomb – Count Paris thought that Romeo had come to desecrate the tomb by disturbing the bodies and so opposed him to his grievous loss. Hiding in a tomb or mausoleum in Christian tradition is little different from hiding in a church – except that there are dead bodies about, and it is better not to disturb them. (Of course, those who disturb the dead, particularly the freshly dead (like the Barrow-Down’s “Newly Deceased”?) risk infection if disease was the cause of death.) I think that Tolkien is drawing on that tradition.
Consider, too, how the deceased would argue the case were the living under such duress that they hid amongst the dead. Would the departed Dúnedain and the Edain forebears prefer that their descendents die, or hide in their tombs to seek refuge from rapine and death?
Again, I don’t think this was a long-term solution: a few days or weeks at the very most. You are correct, Raynor, that the refugees would soon run short of victuals and perhaps of potable water, and concealing their entry and exit would be an important and possibly delicate task But I think that the army of Angmar did not long remain in any one place in Cardolan: if this invasion followed real-world historical examples, its mission after the fall of Amon Sûl was probably to kill everyone found outside fortified places, reduce each fortification as rapidly as possible and massacre their defenders, and then move on to the next place. Finding hideouts and eliminating those overlooked in the initial assault is a separate “mopping-up” operation that must be delayed until primary objectives are achieved. After the rape of Cardolan, the next objective seems to have been Fornost, to which I suspect the Army of Angmar proceeded with all speed. Stopped to hunt down, find, and clear out the hiding places (interestingly, “caves” are not mentioned as hiding places in this case) would give the remaining Arthedain army and survivors of the forces of Rhudaur, Cardolan more time to regroup and possibly repulse an attack on Fornost, giving up the critical advantages of speed and momentum.
Finally, the text strongly implies that few of the Dúnedain of Cardolan survived, only “a remnant,” whether they hid in the Forest, in the tombs, or any strongholds not overrun by the soldiery of Angmar.
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