Pyre

[6] Worked antler and bone objects, along with flint and flake tools, and copper-alloys are most commonly found in pyre cremation remains.

The copper-alloys leave a blue-green stain and are typically fused to the ribs, arms, and other areas where jewelry is commonly worn.

[8] Traditionally, pyres are used for the cremation of the dead in the Hindu and Sikh religions, a practice which dates back several thousands of years.

Hindus will travel great lengths in order to perform ritualistic duties such as praying, attending to their dead, or to die.

The heating of the atmosphere from carbonaceous aerosols resulting from human activities is a significant contributor to climate change in South Asia.

In this region, fossil fuel use and residential biofuels have been documented to be the primary emitter of light-absorbing black carbon aerosols.

The study determined the emitted organic carbon contributed 40% to smoke absorption of visible solar radiation, about 92 Gg annually.

[15] Air pollution, deforestation and large quantities of ash, which are later thrown into rivers, adding to the toxicity of its waters, pose great environmental problems.

[16] The Green Revolution Foundation, under its parent organization Sarthak Charitable Trust, is a Delhi-based NGO working to reduce the environmental impact of funeral pyres.

They claim to have created an alternative to wood-based funeral pyres, which reduces the number of trees which need to be cut down.

Open-air cremations, known as funeral pyres, are uncommon and even illegal in some countries, particularly in the Western World,[9] because it is considered taboo.

[9] In February 2010, a Hindu man named Davender Ghai was granted permission to be cremated on a traditional open-air pyre, when a court of appeals in the United Kingdom ruled them legal inside of a building with an open roof and away from roads or homes.

[21] In the time leading up to the 2nd century AD popular funeral practices in Rome consisted of cremation with a pyre.

The Elder Pliny writes of extreme cases in which bodies have been thrown from the pyre from the force of the flames.

Other cases, described by Plutarch, involving deceased victims of poisoning, resulted in the human body bursting open and dousing the pyre.