Live burial
Live burial or premature burial is interred in a grave while still alive. Some cases of premature burial occurred because the technology to accurately determine death didn't exist so people were routinely wrongfully pronounced dead when in a coma or similar vegetative state. To guard against this, some cultures buried the dead with bells that could be rung if the person in the coffin was still alive, so they could be rescued. Live burial has also been used as a form of murder or execution. A related practice is immurement.
Live Burial Media
Antoine Wiertz's painting of a man buried alive
A burial vault built c. 1890 with internal escape hatches to allow the victim of accidental premature burial to escape
Killing the Scholars and Burning the Books, anonymous 18th century Chinese painted album leaf depicts Confucian scholars being buried alive in Imperial China during the 3rd century BC
16th-century Portuguese illustration from the Códice Casanatense, depicting a Hindu ritual, in which a widow is buried alive with her dead husband
