Disposal of human corpses
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.
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 concerns may be of greater priority.
A modern method of quasi-final disposition, though still rare, is cryonics; this being putatively near-final, though nowhere close to demonstrated.
A ground burial is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objects in it, and covering it over.
Cremation is also an old custom; it was the usual mode of disposing of a corpse in ancient Rome (along with graves covered with heaped mounds, also found in Greece, particularly at the Karameikos graveyard in Monastiraki).
[9] America's national cremation service provider Neptune Society originated from Plantation, Florida in 1973, but incorporated twelve years later.
[10] Sky burial allows dead bodies to be eaten by vultures on open grounds or on top of specially built tall towers away from human sight.
Sky burials can be followed by optional automatic cremations of the skeletons left behind, or the bones can then be stored or buried, as practiced by some groups of Native Americans in protohistoric times.
Sky burials were practiced by the ancient Persians, Tibetans and some Native Americans in protohistoric times.
[11] Specifically, the conditions of a shallow active layer as well as the lack of firewood led the Tibetans to practice jhator or "giving alms to the birds".
[12] Sky burials can provide benefits to the environment, since it does not produce air pollution and the decomposition of the body occurs fairly quickly, when compared to other forms of disposal practices.
In past generations, a "burial at sea" has meant the deliberate disposal of a corpse into the ocean, wrapped and tied with weights to make sure it sinks.
[24] It developed from an earlier composting idea, formulated by architect Katrina Spade of Seattle, Washington, as the Urban Death Project.
Advocates claim the process is more environmentally friendly than both cremation and burial, due to CO2 emissions and embalming fluids respectively.
In the cases of Native Americans in the United States, possession of remains and related objects is regulated by the NAGPRA Act of 1990.
[32] Many nobles and highly ranked bureaucrats had their corpses embalmed and stored in luxurious sarcophagi inside their funeral mausoleums.
Although it may be entirely legal to bury a deceased family member, the law may restrict the locations in which this activity is allowed, in some cases expressly limiting burials to property controlled by specific, licensed institutions.
Surgically removed body parts are typically disposed of as medical waste, unless they need to be preserved for cultural reasons, as described above.
Criminal methods encountered in fiction and actual cases include: Cremation is the traditional manner of Hindu final deposition which takes place during Antyesti rites, however, some circumstances do not allow for cremation so instead "Jal Pravah" is practiced – the release of the body into a river.
The Ganges is the most common location for these ceremonies because it is sacred to Hindus and plays a central role in the religion's funerary traditions.
The riverside city of Varanasi is the center of this practice where massive religious sites along the Ganges, like Manikarnika Ghat, are dedicated to this purpose.
