Tombstone

The Tombstone is an object introduced in the 1.0.5 patch that is placed when a Hardcore player dies. The tomb is inscribed with whatever message is displayed at the bottom of the screen about how the player was killed.

The tomb can be removed with any hammer or by removing one of the blocks it is sitting on. Once in a your inventory, they can be placed on any surface of 2 blocks or more.

Tombstones are similar to Signs in how the text on them can be edited.

When a Tombstone is first spawned, it is thrown into the air and can sometimes bounce around until it finds a suitable spot to land. During this period, the Tombstone does a great deal of damage to any enemies that it comes in contact with. If it does not find a spot where it can be planted, it will come to rest and will be able to be picked up without being broken. Sometimes there is a bug where the Tombstone will stop bouncing, but still damage enemies. If this is the case, it will disapear after a short time.