Arwen's Grave Choice

[The Saucepan Man]

Come to that, what do you *do* with a dead elf?

Tecnically, I suppose, Arwen was not an Elf. But the point is well taken. Perhaps, since they no longer required their physical bodies when their spirits went to Mandos, the Elves practised cremation. Certainly, as they were immortal, they would have no logical reason to practice ancestor worship, whereas Men, being mortal and having no conception of what happens to their spirits after death, might well be inclined to do so. And isn't ancestor worship the original basis for marking burial sites?

Of course, there's no reference (as far as I am aware) to Hobbit burial sites either (save that Merry and Pippin were, I think, buried alongside King Elessar).

Further thoughts: Where in the Trilogy is there ever mention of a woman's grave? What about the Sil?

Didn't Turin come across his sister lying on Morwen's burial mound (sorry, no book to hand either)? Or did the mound simply mark the spot where she died?

Having said all that, the only burial sites that I can recall being mentioned are those of Kings and Stewards. We never hear of graves for "commoners" (or Hobbits - see above), with the exception, I suppose, of those who fell at Helm's Deep. Perhaps only the royal (and battlefield) burial sites are mentioned because they are the only ones relevant to the story.