Burial
Burial, also called
interment and (when applied to human burial)
inhumation, is the act of placing a person or object into the ground. This is accomplished by digging a pit or trench, placing the person or object in it, and replacing the
soil.
Objects are sometimes buried in order to hide them against removal or tampering. For
cables and
pipelines, burial provides protection.
The rest of this article discusses
human burial.
After death, the corpse will start to decay and emit unpleasant odors due to the gases released by bacterial
decomposition. Burial prevents the living from having to see and smell the corpses, but is not necessarily a
public health requirement. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the
WHO advises that only corpses carrying an
infectious disease strictly require burial. [
1] [
2]
Human burial practices seek to demonstrate "respect for the dead", for the following reasons.
*Respect for the physical remains is considered necessary. If left lying on top of the ground, scavengers may eat the corpse, which is considered highly disrespectful to the deceased in many (but not all) cultures.
*Burial can be seen as an attempt to bring
closure to the deceased's family and friends. By interring a body away from plain view, the pain of losing a loved one can be lessened.
*Many cultures believe in an
afterlife. Burial is often believed to be a necessary step for an individual to reach the afterlife.
*Many
religions prescribe a "right" way to live, which includes customs relating to disposal of the dead.
In many human
cultures, human
corpses were usually buried in soil. The act of burying corpses is thought to have begun around 200,000 years ago during the
Paleolithic period by
homo sapiens, before spreading out from Africa[
3]. As a result, burial grounds are found throughout the world.
Mounds of earth,
temples, and underground caverns were used to store the dead bodies of
ancestors. In modern times, the
custom of burying dead people below ground with a
stone marker to mark the place is used in almost every modern
culture, although other means such as
cremation are becoming more popular in the west (cremation is the norm in India).
Some burial practices are heavily
ritualized; others are simply practical.
Natural burial
A growing trend in modern burial is the concept of
natural burial. Popularised in the United Kingdom in the late
1990s, natural burial is being adopted in the United States as a method for protecting and restoring the natural environment.
With a natural burial, the body is returned to nature in a
biodegradable coffin or
shroud. Native vegetation (often a memorial tree) is planted over or near the grave in place of a conventional cemetery monument. The resulting green space establishes a living memorial and forms a protected wildlife preserve.
Natural burial grounds are also known as woodland cemeteries, eco-cemeteries, memorial nature preserves, or green burial grounds.
Prevention of decay
|
Mummies were the results of ancient Egyptian embalming. |
Embalming is the practice of preserving a body against decay, and is used in many cultures.
Mummification is a more extensive method of embalming, further retarding the decay process.
Bodies are often buried wrapped in a
shroud or placed in a
coffin (also called a
casket). A larger container may be used, such as a
ship. Coffins are usually covered by a
burial liner or a
burial vault, which protects the coffin from collapsing under the weight of the earth or floating away during a flood.
These containers slow the decomposition process by (partially) physically blocking decomposing
bacteria and other organisms from accessing the corpse. An additional benefit of using containers to hold the body is that if the soil covering the corpse is washed away by a
flood or some other natural process, the corpse will still not be exposed to open air.
In some cultures however the goal is not to preserve the body but to allow it to decompose—or return to the
Earth—naturally. In
Orthodox Judaism embalming is not permitted, and the coffins are constructed so that the body will be returned to the Earth as soon as possible. Such coffins are made of wood, and have no metal parts at all. Wooden pegs are used in the place of nails. Followers of the
Islamic faith also prefer to bury their deceased so as not to delay decomposition. Normally, instead of using coffins the deceased are buried in a shroud, and the bodies of the deceased are not normally embalmed.
Inclusion of clothing and personal effects
The body may be dressed in fancy and/or ceremonial clothes. Personal objects, such as a favorite piece of jewelery or photograph, of the deceased may be included with the body. This practice, also known as the inclusion of
grave goods, serves several purposes:
*In
funeral services, the body is often put on display. Many cultures feel that the deceased should be presented looking his/her finest.
*The inclusion of ceremonial garb and sacred objects is sometimes viewed as necessary for getting to the
afterlife.
*The inclusion of personal effects may be motivated by the beliefs that in the afterlife a person will wish to have with them what was important to them on earth. Alternatively, in some cultures it is felt that when a person dies, their possessions (and sometimes people connected to them such as wives, see
sati) should go with them out of loyalty or ownership.
*Though not generally a motivation for the inclusion of grave goods with a corpse, it is worth considering that future
archaeologists may find the remains.
Artifacts such as clothing and objects provide insight into how the individual lived. This provides a form of
immortality for the deceased.
Body positioning
Burials may be placed in a number of different positions.
Christian burials are made
extended, i.e., lying flat with arms and legs straight, or with the arms folded upon the chest, and with the
eyes and
mouth closed. Extended burials may be
supine (lying on the back) or
prone (lying on the front). Other
ritual practices place the body in a
flexed position with the legs bent or
crouched with the legs folded up to the chest. Warriors in some ancient societies were buried in an
upright position. Many cultures treat placement of dead people in an appropriate position to be a sign of respect even when burial is impossible.
In nonstandard burial practices, such as
mass burial, the body may be positioned arbitrarily. This can be a sign of disrespect to the deceased, or at least nonchalance on the part of the inhumer, or due to considerations of time and space.
In the
African-American slave community, slaves quickly familiarized themselves with funeral procedures and the location of gravesites of family and friends. Specific slaves were assigned to prepare dead bodies, build coffins, dig graves, and construct headstones. Slave funerals were typically at night when the workday was over, with the master present to view all the ceremonial procedures. Slaves from the nearby plantations were regularly in attendance.
At death, a slave's body was wrapped in cloth. The hands were placed across the chest, and a metal plate was placed on top of their hands. The reasoning for the plate was to hinder their return home by suppressing any spirits in the coffin. Often, personal property was buried with slaves to appease spirits. The coffins were nailed shut once the body was inside, and carried by hand or wagon, depending on the property designated for slave burial site. Slaves were buried east to west, with the head facing east and their feet to the west. This positioning represented the ability to rise without having to turn around at the call of
Gabriel's trumpet. Gabriel's trumpet would be blown in the eastern sunrise. East-west positioning also was the direction of home,
Africa.
Burial in the Bahá'í Faith
Bahá'í burial law prescribes both the location of burial and burial practices and precludes cremation of the dead. It is forbidden to carry the body for more than one hour's journey from the place of death. Before interment the body should be wrapped in a shroud of silk or cotton, and a ring should be placed on its finger bearing the inscription
"I came forth from God, and return unto Him, detached from all save Him, holding fast to His Name, the Merciful, the Compassionate". The coffin should be of crystal, stone or hard fine wood. Also, before interment, a specific Prayer for the Dead [
4] is ordained. The formal prayer and the ring are meant to be used for those who have reached fifeteen years of age.[
5]
Where to bury
Apart from sanitary and other practical considerations, the site of burial can be determined by religious and socio-cultural considerations.
Thus in some traditions, especially with an animistic logic, the remains of the dead are "banished" for fear their spirits would harm the living if too close; others keep remains close to help surviving generations.
Religious rules may prescribe a specific zone, e.g. a Catholic must be buried in "
consecrated ground," usually a
cemetery; an earlier practice, burial in or very near the church (hence the word churchyard), was generally abandoned with individual exceptions as a high posthumous honour; also many existing funeral monuments and crypts remain in use.
Royalty and high nobility often have one or more "traditional" sites of burial, generally monumental, often in a palatial chapel or cathedral; see
http://www.heraldica.org/faqs/landmark.html examples on Heraldica.org.
Marking the location of the burial
Most modern cultures mark the location of the body with a
headstone. This serves two purposes. First, the
grave will not accidentally be
exhumed. Second, headstones often contain information or tributes to deceased. This is a form of remembrance for loved ones; it can also be viewed as a form of
immortality, especially in cases of famous people's graves. Such
monumental inscriptions may subsequently be useful to genealogists and family historians.
In many cultures graves will be grouped, so the monuments make up a
necropolis, a "city of the dead" parallelling the community of the living.
Unmarked grave
In many cultures graves are
marked with durable markers, or
monuments, intended to help remind people of the buried person. An
unmarked grave is a
grave with no such memorial marker.
The phrase
"unmarked grave" has metaphorical meaning in the context of cultures that mark burial sites. As a figure of speech, an unmarked grave represents consignment to oblivion, an ignominous end. As a monument is a sign of fondness or respect, similarly a grave with no marker is usually a sign of disdain and disrespect—representing an intent that the person be forgotten utterly.
The corpus of
Pope Formosus was actually disinterred, placed on trial (see
Cadaver Synod), found guilty, and ultimately thrown into an "unmarked grave"—the waters of the
River Tiber.
Anonymous burial
Another sort of unmarked grave is a burial site with an anonymous marker, such as a simple
crucifix; boots, rifle and helmet; a sword and shield; a cairn of stones; or even lavish monuments. In this type of unmarked grave, no disrespect is intended. Rather, identification of the departed is impossible, yet it is desired that they be memorialised.
The
United Kingdom has buried one of their unknown warriors in
Westminster Abbey.
France likewise honors an unknown soldier by burial underneath the
Arc de Triomphe,
Italy honors an unknown soldier in the
Monumento al Milite Ignoto in
Rome, and the
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a monument in the
U.S.'s
Arlington National Cemetery is dedicated to American military personnel who have died without their remains being identified. These are extreme examples of anonymous graves, where the anonymity of the dead person is symbolic, indicating respect for all the unknown departed of war or calamity on a national scale.
Secret burial
In some very rare cases, a known person will be buried without identification, perhaps to avoid
desecration of the corpse,
grave robbing, or vandalism of the burial site. This may be particularly the case with infamous or notorious figures. In other cases, it may be to avoid the grave becoming a
tourist attractions or a destination of
pilgrimage . The family or friends seeking to honour and protect the dead in such cases may bury them in a secret location or other unpublished place, or in a grave with a false name—or no name at all—on the marker.
When
Walt Disney was
cremated his ashes were buried in a secret location in
Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, California, one of many cemeteries that provide such services for the mortal remains of famous people. Some burial sites at Forest Lawn, such as those of
Humphrey Bogart and
Mary Pickford, are secluded in private gated gardens, with no public access. A number of tombs are also kept from the public eye. Forest Lawn's Court of Honour indicates that some of its crypts have plots which are reserved for individuals who may be "voted in" as "Immortals"; no amount of money can purchase a place. As a sign of respect, photographs taken at Forest Lawn are not permitted to be published, and their information office usually refuses to reveal exactly where the remains of famous people are buried.
Multiple bodies per grave
Some couples or groups of people want to be buried together, for example, a
husband and wife. Since (in many cases) people die at different times, the exhumation of the first to die is often necessary. In other cases, the bodies may simply be buried side by side. Or if there were advanced planning the first person buried will be at a greater depth so that the second person can be buried on top at a shallower depth. In many states in Australia all graves are designated two or three depth ( depending of the water table ) for multiple burials, at the discretion of the burial rights holder, with each new internment atop the previous coffin separated by a thin layer of earth. As such all graves are dug to greater depth for the initial burial than the traditional six feet to facilitate this practice.
Mass burial is the practice of burying dozens, hundreds, or thousands of individuals in one massive pit, much like a
landfill for human remains. Most cultures view mass burial as a way of
objectifying corpses, and is often viewed as a form of gross disrespect to the individuals being buried. Civilizations attempting
genocide often employ mass burial for the people they kill in the genocide, as it is mechanically efficient, and coincides neatly with their goals of dehumanizing and destroying a segment of the population.
However, in some cases, mass burial is the only practical means of dealing with a number of corpses sufficient to overwhelm local resources, as in a major
disaster. In cases of mass burial, it is commonly of importance to survivors to later have the bodies exhumed, identified, and buried properly.
Prior to the advent of genetic testing, authorities would bury inextricably mixed-up remains in a common grave, for example, the remains of tank crew members who died in the explosion of their vehicle and whose remains are incinerated in the resulting conflagration.
Naval ships sunk in combat are also considered mass graves. U.S. Navy policy declares such wrecks a mass grave and forbids the recovery of remains. In lieu of recovery, divers or submersibles leave a plaque dedicated to the memory of the ship or boat and its crew, and family members are invited to attend the ceremony.
Sites of large former battlefields may also contain one or more mass graves.
Douaumont ossuary is one such mass grave, and it contains the remains of 130,000 soldiers from both sides of the
battle of Verdun.
Catacombs also comprise a mass grave. Some catacombs, for example
those in Rome, were designated as a communal burial place. Some, such as the
catacombs of Paris, only became a mass grave when individual burials were relocated from cemeteries marked for demolition.
Cremation
 |
The crematorium at Haycombe Cemetery, Bath, England. A cremation service has just finished. |
In
cremation the body of the deceased is burned in a special
oven. Most of the body is
vaporized during the cremation process, leaving only a few pounds of
bone fragments. Bodies of small
children and
infants often produce very little in the way of "ashes", as ashes are comprised of bone, and young people have softer bones, largely
cartilage. Often these fragments are processed (ground) into a fine powder, which has led to cremated remains being called
ashes. In recent times, cremation has become a popular option in the western world.
There is far greater flexibility in dealing with the remains in cremation as opposed to the traditional burial. Some of the options include scattering the ashes at a place close to the heart of the deceased or keeping the ashes at home. Ashes can also be buried either underground or in a
columbarium niche.
Live burial
Live burial sometimes occurs, in which individuals are buried while still alive. Having no way of escaping interment, they die in place, typically by
asphyxiation,
dehydration,
starvation, or (in cold climates)
exposure. People may come to be buried alive in a number of different ways:
*An individual may be
intentionally buried alive as a method of
execution or
murder.
*In
Ancient Egypt, servants were sometimes intentionally buried alive with their
Pharaoh in order to serve him/her in the
afterlife.
*A person or group of people in a cave, mine, or other underground area may be sealed underground due to an
earthquake or other
natural disaster.
*People have been unintentionally (uncommonly) buried alive because they were pronounced
dead by a
coroner or other official, when they were in fact still alive.
Burial at cross-roads
Historically,
burial at cross-roads was the method of disposing of executed
criminals and
suicides. At the cross-roads a rude cross usually stood, and this gave rise to the belief that these spots were selected as the next best burying-places to consecrated ground. The real explanation is that the ancient
Teutonic peoples often built their altars at the cross-roads, and as human sacrifices, especially of criminals, formed part of the ritual, these spots came to be regarded as execution grounds. Hence after the introduction of
Christianity, criminals and suicides were buried at the cross-roads during the night, in order to assimilate as far as possible their funeral to that of the
pagans. An example of a cross-road execution-ground was the famous
Tyburn in
London, which stood on the spot where the
Roman road to
Edgware and beyond met the Roman road heading west out of London.
Superstition also played a part in the selection of cross-roads in the burial of suicides. Folk belief often held such individuals could rise as some form of
undead ( such as a
vampire ) and burying them at cross-roads would inhibit their ability to find and wreak havoc on their living relations and former associates.
Burial of animals
By humans
In addition to burying human remains, many human cultures also regularly bury
animal remains.
Pets and other animals of emotional significance are often ceremonially buried. Most families bury deceased pets on their own properties, mainly in a yard, with a
shoe box or any other type of container served as a
coffin. The
Ancient Egyptians are known to have
mummified and buried
cats, which they considered
deities.
By other animals
Humans are not always the only species to bury their dead.
Chimpanzees and
elephants are known to throw leaves and branches over fallen members of their family groups.
The digging up of a buried body is called
exhumation, and is considered
sacrilege by most cultures that bury their dead. However, there is often a number of circumstances in which exhumation is tolerated:
*If an individual died under suspicious circumstances, a legitimate investigating agency (such as a
police agency) may exhume the body to determine the cause of death.
*If a body has been misidentified, and hence buried in the wrong grave [
6]
*A body may be exhumed so that it may be reburied elsewhere.
*Once human remains reach a certain age, many cultures consider the remains to have no communal
provenance, making exhumation acceptable. This serves several purposes:
**Many
cemeteries have a limited number of plots in which to bury the dead. Once all plots are full, older remains are typically moved to an
ossuary to accommodate more bodies.
**It enables
archaeologists to search for human remains in order to better understand human culture.
**It enables
construction agencies to clear the way for new infrastructure.
Frequently, cultures have different sets of exhumation
taboos. Occasionally these differences result in conflict, especially in cases where a culture with more lenient exhumation rules wishes to operate on the territory of a stricter culture. For example,
United States construction companies have run into conflict with
Native American groups that wanted to preserve their ancient burial grounds from any form of modern construction.
In folklore and mythology, exhumation has also been frequently associated with the performance of rites to banish
undead manifestations. An example is the
Mercy Brown Vampire Incident of
Rhode Island, which occurred in 1892.
Human bodies are not always buried, and many cultures may not bury their dead in every case. Alternatives to burial include the following. In most cases these alternatives are still intended to maintain respect for the dead, but some are intended to prolong the display of remains.
*Ash jump:
skydivers often elect to have their cremated remains released by their loved ones during freefall.
*
Butchering the corpse by hand to remove the flesh ( sometime referred to by the neologism "defleshing")
*
Burial at sea is the practice of depositing the body in an
ocean or other large body of water instead of soil. It may be disposed in a coffin, or without one.
*Funerary
cannibalism is the practice of eating the remains. This may be for many reasons: for example to partake of their strength, to spiritually "close the circle" by reabsorbing their life into the family or clan, to annihilate an enemy, or due to pathological mental conditions.
*
Cremation is the incineration of the remains. This practice is common amongst
Hindus*
Cryonics is the cold storage of the remains.
*
Ecological funeral is a proposed method of increasing the rate of
decomposition in order to help fertilize the soil.
*
Excarnation is the practice of removing the flesh from the corpse without interment. The
Zoroastrians have traditionally left their dead on
Towers of Silence, where the flesh of the corpses is let to be devoured by vultures and other carrion-eating birds.
*
Gibbeting was the ancient practice of publicly displaying remains of criminals.
*
Hanging coffins are coffins which have been placed on cliffs. They can be found in various locations, including
China and the
Philippines.
*
Sky burial involves placing the body on a mountaintop.
*
Space burial is the practice of firing the coffin into
space. The coffin may be placed into orbit, sent off into interstellar space, or incinerated in the sun. Space burial is still largely in the realm of
science fiction as the cost of getting a body into space is prohibitively large, although several prominent figures have had their ashes launched into space after cremation.
*
Urban Legend Reference Pages: Horrors (Just Dying to Get Out) (from
Snopes.com)
*
Can a person be buried in the backyard rather than a cemetery? (from
The Straight Dope)
*
Museum of Funeral Customs*
'Waking the dead' series on Blather.net*
Green Burial Resources and Information supporting Green Burial in North America at Forest of Memories
