This photograph depicts an ancient Roman burial stucture, or columbarium. Columbaria were large underground vaults where peoples' cremated remains were placed within small wall niches, which were often marked by memorial plaques and portrait sculptures. Columbaria provided relatively inexpensive burial space for many people in the city of Rome.
Because the Romans believed that a proper burial was essential for passage to the afterlife, many of them belonged to funeral societies, called collegia. Collegia members (provided they were in good standing) were guaranteed a spot in a columbarium. They would pay monthly dues which would be employed to cover the cost of funerals for members. Proper burial was so important that some emperors even provided funeral allowances to those so very poor they could not even afford to belong to a collegia.