The gravestones, many with expensive carving, were imported from Europe. Only the richer part of the community could afford such stones. The poorer part was buried with a wooden grave marker that has disappeared through time. From comparative research of cemeteries on Curacao and Barbados it is known that only 50% of the graves are covered with stones.

But it is important to know, that every spot of the cemetery, also the space that is now empty and planted with green grass, is in fact a sacred burial place.

Contrary to the old Paramaribo cemeteries, the Beth Haim cemetery contains almost no tombs. The gravestones are placed flat on the ground. There is no real indication that there have been tombs before; the oldest known picture of the cemetery, a 1860 Voorduin painting , also shows no tombs.

The first burial (with a stone, that is) dates 1693; the last burials took place around 1860, with one exception dating 1895.

In 1946 the cemetery was cleaned and inventoried; 435 graves were described, but as the researchers knew neither Hebrew nor Portuguese, only a limited number of tombs could be deciphered. The research results were published in a 1948 article by Fred Oudschans-Dentz: "sepultura jodensavana. The article contains an accurate map made by van Sprey.

A much more thorough study was carried out in 1999 by dr. Aviva Ben-Ur, but the results are not yet published.