afterworld

“We wanted this man-like figure to be the gatekeeper of death, and we wanted him to talk of death or the afterworld,” added Sato.

“She would not sacrifice her body merely to follow dead men into the afterworld,” she thinks.

"These people were buried with very interesting offerings," added Camargo, noting that the goddess figurines may have been meant to accompany the deceased along their journey to the afterworld.

“If there is an afterworld, Joel is on top of a list at the pearly gates — No. 1 with a bullet and a star. R.I.P.”

On Maui’s west coast is a massive volcanic outcropping called Black Rock, where spirits of the recently deceased are said to leap into the afterworld to join their ancestors.