Burial

Intentional burial, particularly with grave goods, may be one of the earliest detectable forms of religious practice since, as Philip Lieberman suggests, it may signify a "concern for the dead that transcends daily life".

[1] Evidence points to the Neanderthals as the first human species known to practice burial behavior and to intentionally bury their dead; they did so using shallow graves furnished with stone tools and animal bones.

[5] The remains of a 3-year-old child at Panga ya Saidi cave in Kenya dating to 78,000 years ago also show signs suggestive of a burial, such as the digging of a pit, laying of the body in a fetal position and intentional rapid covering of the corpse.

[8] Medieval European Christianity sometimes developed complex burial rituals and attached great importance to their correct performance: the fate of the soul of the deceased might depend on observing the proper ceremonial.

Then, on the eve of burial, the corpse had to be taken to church on a torch-lit bier and placed in the darkness of the nave, then laid in front of the high altar, surrounded by candles.

Following this, there were prayers, hymns, special masses, and the body was borne to the grave, sprinkled with holy water and buried in consecrated ground.

[...] Personal salvation – breaking free from the corporeal prison and ascending to a spiritual sphere unencumbered by materiality – is the logical culmination of the myth of humanity's supposed dominion over nature.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, the World Health Organization advises that only corpses carrying an infectious disease strictly require burial.

"[17] The city officials apparently believed this would inhibit the spread of the disease, not realising that the true vector was fleas living on rats in the streets.

[19] Natural burial became popularized in the UK in the early 1990s by Ken West, a professional cremator operator for the city of Carlisle, responding to the U.K's call for changes in government that aligned with the United Nations' Environmental Program Local Agenda 21.

The outcome is comparable to cremation, but results in an environmentally friendly process that does not release chemical emissions and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, as was confirmed after a review by the Health Council of the Netherlands.

The learnèd among them confess the absurdity of this doctrine; but the practice still continues, in compliance to the vulgar.Swift's notion of inverted burial might seem the highest flight of fancy, but it appears that among English millenarians the idea that the world would be "turned upside down" at the Apocalypse enjoyed some currency.

There is at least one attested case of a person being buried upside down by instruction; a Major Peter Labilliere of Dorking (d. 4 June 1800) lies thus upon the summit of Box Hill.

[36] A TED Talk by Kelli Swazey[37] discusses how Tana Toraja, a Sulawesi province in Eastern Indonesia, experiences death as a process, rather than an event.

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.

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".

Another sort of unmarked grave is a burial site with an anonymous marker, such as a simple cross; boots, rifle and helmet; a sword and shield; a cairn of stones; or even a monument.

Following Walt Disney's cremation, his ashes were buried in a secret location in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, California.

Some burial sites at Forest Lawn, such as those of Humphrey Bogart, Mary Pickford and Michael Jackson, are secluded in private gated gardens or mausoleums with no public access.

Forest Lawn's Court of Honor 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.

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.

However, mass burial may in many cases be the only practical means of dealing with an overwhelming number of human remains, such as those resulting from a natural disaster, an act of terrorism, an epidemic, or an accident.

This practice has become less common in the developed world with the advent of genetic testing, but even in the 21st century remains which are unidentifiable by current methods may be buried in a mass grave.

[49] In some cases, the remains of unidentified individuals have been buried in mass graves in potter's fields, making exhumation and future identification troublesome for law enforcement.

In lieu of recovery, divers or submersibles may leave a plaque dedicated to the memory of the ship or boat and its crew, and family members are invited to attend the ceremony.

Another possible explanation is that the ancient Teutonic (Germanic) ethnic groups often built their altars at the cross-roads, and since human sacrifices, especially of criminals, formed part of the ritual, these spots came to be regarded as execution grounds.

Folk belief often held such individuals could rise as some form of undead (such as a vampire) and burying them at crossroads would inhibit their ability to find and wreak havoc on their living relations and former associates.

The practice is called jiǎngǔ(撿骨) in Taiwan, or Bốc mộ(卜墓) in Vietnam "digging up bones" and is an important ritual in the posthumous "care" of children for their deceased parents and ancestors.

[66][67] In England and Wales once the top of a coffin has been lowered below ground level in a burial if it is raised again, say for example the grave sides are protruding and need further work, this is considered an exhumation and the Home Office are required to be notified and a full investigation undertaken.

According to Margaret Holloway,[72] funerals are believed to be driven by the consumer's choice, personalisation, secularization, and stories that place individual traditional meta-narratives.