Why are there NO DEAD PEOPLE before 1700?

Well, it's going to have a lot to do with where you are. I grew up in Connecticut and there were plenty of tombstones before 1700 in the older cemeteries. Part of the problem might be the material. Some stone was softer and weathered quickly, sometimes breaking apart entirely. If you study the subject, you'll find that certain periods of time favored certain types of stone. And in places that were still more wilderness than settlement, there may have been a shortage of stone-cutters, resulting in wooden markers that eventually rotted. In more rural areas, families were often buried in small plots on family land. My father has found dozens of tiny family burial plots in rural Vermont.