Gravestones (a.k.a. headstones / tombstones) in modern American cemeteries are usually made of "granite" - a term in the retail trade for any hard stone that will take a fine polish. Geologically, some are granites and some are not. In the 1800s, many gravestones were made of marble, a crystalline-textured metamorphic rock composed of calcite (calcium carbonate, CaCO3). Rainwater is naturally acidic (slightly), with carbonic acid - H2CO3. Over time, marble will slowly dissolve in rainwater. Older marble gravestones typically have poorly legible carvings.
This gravestone is made of sandstone, not marble. Weathering and erosion have removed material from the middle of both sides
Locality: Cedar Hill Cemetery, Newark, Licking County, east-central Ohio, USA
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