The act of stealing valuables or remains from graves or tombs, typically for profit or desecration.
Compound of 'grave' (burial place, from Old English 'græf') and 'robbing' (stealing, from Old French 'rober'). The practice has existed since ancient times, becoming especially notorious during the Victorian era.
Grave robbing was so common in 18th-century England that it became a major social problem—body snatchers called 'resurrectionists' supplied anatomists with cadavers for medical schools, leading to the famous Burke and Hare murders.
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