Burial vault (enclosure)

Coffin collapse will cause the ground to sink and settle, marring the appearance of the cemetery and making it harder to maintain.

Haase Manufacturing Co., which owned a cemetery in Illinois, conceived the burial vault as a means of adding a product line to their funerary sales.

[5] In the 1930s, company owner Wilbert Haase, who had an interest in Egyptian mummification, began promoting the sealed (or "waterproof") vault as a means of allegedly protecting the body from water, microbes, and vermin.

[8] Vaults which are installed incorrectly and too tightly sealed may not allow gases generated by the decomposing body to escape.

[10] A truly "green" or natural burial does not use embalming fluids, and does not attempt to protect the body from the soil and rapid decomposition.

[12] Data on the use of burial vaults and liners outside the United States is very difficult to come by, and usage rates are not known.

In modern Italy, burial plots (either below-ground or in wall loculi) are re-used after a period of years, usually 10 to 25.

[15] In the United States, the use of burial vaults is also decreasing, caused by a sharp rise in the number of cremations.

[17] But Morrison David Bial argues that burial vaults are antithetical to traditional Judaism, in part because they deny the reality of death (e.g., inhibit decomposition of the body) and in part because they are ostentatious and undercut the equality of all people at death.

[18] Islamic law requires only that the body be washed, anointed, and wrapped in linen for burial.

[19] Preferably, the body should be buried without coffin or burial vault, although such is permitted if required by law.