oceany: Burial

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground or in a structure such as a mausoleum, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objects in it, and covering it over. A funeral is a ceremony that accompanies the final disposition. Evidence suggests that some archaic and early modern humans buried their dead. Burial is often seen as indicating respect for the dead. It has been used to prevent the odor of decay, to give family members closure and prevent them from witnessing the decomposition of their loved ones, and in many cultures it has been seen…

Evidence: 68 • authority: 72

The disposal of human corpses, also called final disposition, is the practice and process of dealing with the remains of a deceased human being. Disposal methods may need to account for the fact that soft tissue will decompose relatively rapidly, while the skeleton will remain intact for thousands of years under certain conditions. Several methods for disposal are practiced. A funeral is a ceremony that may accompany the final disposition. Regardless, the manner of disposal is often dominated by spirituality with a desire to hold vigil for the dead and may be highly ritualized. In cases of mass death, such as war and natural disaster, or in which the means of disposal are limited, practical…

Evidence: 68 • authority: 72

Natural burial is the interment of the body of a dead person in the soil or a body of water in a manner that does not inhibit decomposition but allows the body to be naturally recycled. It is an alternative to burial methods and funerary customs. The body may be prepared without chemical preservatives or disinfectants, such as embalming fluid, which are designed to inhibit the microbial decomposers that break the body down. It may be buried in a biodegradable coffin, casket, or shroud. The grave does not use a burial vault or outer burial container that would prevent the body's contact with soil. The grave should be shallow enough to allow microbial activity similar to that found in compost…

Evidence: 63 • authority: 72

A sustainable cemetery is a space that is designed to hold the remains of those who have died without causing unnecessary damage to the environment. Historically, most human burial methods do not cause negative effects to the planet, but embalming practices, cemetery maintenance, and the use of non-biodegradable materials popular today have proven to cause long lasting negative impacts to the environments and wildlife surrounding burial sites. Sustainable burial practices include eliminating the use of harmful chemicals and non-biodegradable materials, limiting over-consumption of natural materials, and promoting the natural decomposition of the body. Examples of sustainable burial methods…

Evidence: 48 • authority: 72

Sky burial (Tibetan: བྱ་གཏོར་, Wylie: bya gtor, lit. "bird-scattered") is a funeral practice in which a corpse is placed on a mountaintop to decompose while exposed to the elements, or to be eaten by scavenging animals, especially crows, vultures, bears and jackals. Comparable excarnation practices are part of Zoroastrian burial rites where deceased are exposed to the elements and scavenger birds on stone structures called Dakhma. Sky burials are endemic to Tibet, Qinghai, Sichuan, and Inner Mongolia, as well as in Mongolia, Nepal, Bhutan, and parts of India such as Sikkim and Zanskar. The locations of preparation and sky burial are understood in the Vajrayana Buddhist traditions as charnel…

Evidence: 38 • authority: 88

Green Burial, Home Burial: A Return to Redbud Hill. This paper uses my own personal journey toward a green home burial as a vehicle for exploring this emerging industry. A recent move across the country prompted me to reflect upon my own burial place. While I have known for years that I would prefer a green burial, the transition from my native Midwest to the Pacific Northwest was a catalyst for anxieties about leaving the familiar for a foreign (to me) landscape. Knowing that my body would one day return to the hills of my childhood provided a strange sense of calm, but a cursory look into the prospects of a home burial on my 18 acres in rural Indiana suggested the logistics were more comp…

Evidence: 38 • authority: 92

Diachronic reuse of Neolithic burial monuments by Bronze Age newcomers in Southwestern Britain.. The spread of early farming communities first reached Britain c. 4000 BCE, ultimately displacing or assimilating local foragers. Two millennia later, another wave of migration, associated with the Bell Beaker culture, again transformed the genetic and socio-cultural landscape of Britain. Southwestern England is rich in prehistoric burial monuments, some dating from the Early Neolithic, many of which later saw reuse during the Bell Beaker and Bronze Age periods. We analysed the genomes of 30 individuals dated between c. 3800 and 1400 BCE from 12 sites in southwestern England and identified a shar…

Evidence: 38 • authority: 72

Human composting (called natural organic reduction in legal codes and regulations) is a process for the final disposition of human remains in which microbes and organic material convert a deceased body into compost. Developed in the early 21st century as an environmentally sustainable alternative to burial and cremation, human composting is legally sanctioned in several US states and Sweden. Human composting has prompted much debate around environmental impacts, legalization, and religious considerations.

Evidence: 36 • authority: 92

Neotaphonomic characteristics of vertebrate site formation in underwater caves.. Recovering well-preserved vertebrate remains from underwater caves has provided critical insights into archaeological and palaeontological records worldwide. However, understanding how bone assemblages form and are modified in underwater environments remains limited due to stable low energy burial conditions that produce time-averaged deposits, and underwater settings that hinder traditional recording and recovery methods. We examine three assemblages of historically deposited and dated non-human, domesticate animal bones from two underwater caves, Green Waterhole and Gouldens Sinkhole, near Mount Gambier, Sout…

Evidence: 33 • authority: 72

A tree pod burial is a method of burial in which a body or cremated remains are placed in a pod that subsequently serves to nourish a tree planted in the soil above it. It is a form of a natural burial that seeks to reduce the environmental impact of traditional body disposal and create a living landmark to memorialize the decedent.