Religious symbols of death and depictions of the afterlife will vary with the religion practiced by the people who use them. 

Tombs, tombstones, and other items of funereal architecture are Some Christians also erect temporary crosses along public highways as memorials for those who died in accidents. In Buddhism, the symbol of a wheel represents the cycles of reincarnation.

The symbol of a grave or tomb, especially one in a picturesque or unusual location, can be used to represent death, as in Nicholas Poussin's famous painting Et in Arcadia ego. 

Images of life in the afterlife are also symbols of death. Here, again, the ancient Egyptians produced detailed pictorial representations of the life enjoyed by the dead. In Christian folk religion, the spirits of the dead are often depicted as winged angels or angel-like creatures, dwelling among the clouds; this imagery of the afterlife is frequently used in comic depictions of the life after death.

Colours used to represent death 

Black is the colour of mourning in many European cultures. In East Asia, white is similarly associated with mourning. 

The Neanderthals painted the skulls of their respectfully buried dead with red ochre coloring: a transfusion to carry its late inhabitant into the Next World: where there is metaphor and tradition there is humanity.