 The original Roman custom was cremation, after which the burnt remains were kept in a pot, ash-chest or urn, often in a "columbarium"; pre-Roman burials around Rome often used hut-urns—little pottery houses.From about the 2nd century CE, inhumation (burial of unburnt remains) in sarcophagi, often elaborately carved, became more fashionable for those who could afford it.Greek-style medallion portrait sculptures on a "stela", or small mausoleum for the rich, housing either an urn or sarcophagus, were often placed in a location such as a roadside, where it would be very visible to the living and perpetuate the memory of the dead.