Countless graves have been reopened since ancient times to extract something. In archaeology, the popular term "grave robbery" has become established, which presupposes a specific interpretation: the understanding of these interventions as criminal behavior. Research has so far focused almost exclusively on reconstructing grave contents, rather than on the manipulations of graves as a form of self-expression of the society being studied. This neglected aspect is the focus of the study, which examines the form and background of prehistoric and early historic manipulations of graves. The method employed is the construction of circumstantial evidence based on a systematic cultural comparison. For the first time, not only is previous research analyzed in detail, but a more suitable terminology and criteria for addressing the subject are also newly developed.