Step 2: Decide if you want to cremated or inhumed. You must choose whether you will be cremated (body burned and ashes collected and placed in an urn) or inhumed (body buried intact).
In ancient Rome, the method was mostly a matter of taste, but for the most part Romans chose to be cremated. Some people, however, preferred inhumation (especially people of Jewish and Christian beliefs). Your choice will determine many of your other choices further on. Decide who will be buried in the monument.
Inhumation burials require that you purchase a sarcophagus (coffin) in which to place the body. They take considerably more space than a cremation burial. Larger columbaria dedicated to cremation burials will have space for fewer burials than one for cremation burials. One of the communal burial sites is strictly for inhumation burials.
Depositing a Body in a Catacomb Niche