Disposal of human corpses

Last updated December 20, 2024

The disposal of human corpses, also called final disposition, is the practice and process of dealing with the remains of a deceased human being. 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.

Several methods for disposal are practiced. A funeral is a ceremony that may accompany the final disposition. 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.

Ancient methods of disposing of dead bodies include cremation practiced by the Romans, Greeks, Hindus, and some Mayans; burial practiced by the Chinese, Japanese, Bali, Jews, Christians, and Muslims, as well as some Mayans; mummification, a type of embalming, practiced by the Ancient Egyptians; and the sky burial and a similar method of disposal called Tower of Silence practiced by Tibetan Buddhists, some Mongolians, and Zoroastrians.

A modern method of quasi-final disposition, though still rare, is cryonics; this being putatively near-final, though nowhere close to demonstrated.

Commonly practiced legal methods

Some cultures place the dead in tombs of various sorts, either individually, or in specially designated tracts of land that house tombs. Burial in a graveyard is one common form of tomb. In some places, burials are impractical because the groundwater is too high; therefore tombs are placed above ground, as is the case in New Orleans, Louisiana, US.^[1] Elsewhere, a separate building for a tomb is usually reserved for the socially prominent and wealthy; grand, above-ground tombs are called mausoleums. The socially prominent sometimes had the privilege of having their corpses stored in church crypts. In more recent times, however, this has often been forbidden by hygiene laws. Burial was not always permanent. In some areas, burial grounds needed to be reused due to limited space. In these areas, once the dead have decomposed to skeletons, the bones are removed; after their removal they can be placed in an ossuary.

Ground burial

A ground burial is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objects in it, and covering it over. Humans have been burying their dead for over 100,000 years. Burial practices and rites varied from culture to culture in the past and still vary to this day.^[2] Burial is often seen as indicating respect for the dead. It has been used to prevent the odor of decay, to give family members closure, and prevent them from witnessing the decomposition of their loved ones.

Cremation

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). Vikings were occasionally cremated in their longships, and afterwards the location of the site was marked with standing stones.

Since the latter part of the twentieth century, despite the objections of some religious groups, cremation has become increasingly popular. Jewish law ( Halakha ) forbids cremation, believing that the soul of a cremated person will be unable to find its final repose. The Roman Catholic Church forbade it for many years, but since 1963 the church has allowed it, as long as it is not done to express disbelief in bodily resurrection. The church specifies that cremated remains be either buried or entombed; they do not allow cremated remains to be scattered or kept at home. Many Catholic cemeteries now have columbarium niches for cremated remains, or specific sections for those remains. Some denominations of Protestantism allow cremation; the more conservative denominations generally do not. The Eastern Orthodox Church and Islam also forbid cremation.^[3]

Among Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and some sects of Buddhists such as those found in Japan, cremation is common.^[4]

Immurement

Immurement of corpses is the permanent storage in an above-ground tomb or mausoleum. A tomb is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb, or the tomb may be considered to be within the mausoleum. One of the most famous immurements sites is the Taj Mahal located in Agra, India. The Taj Mahal was built by Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife, Empress Mumtaz Mahal. Both of their bodies were buried in this building.^[5]

Less common legal methods

Sky burial

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.^[6] 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". The Zoroastrians in Mumbai and Karachi placed bodies on "Towers of Silence", where birds then could decompose the bodies.^[7] 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.^[8] Exposures, which can be a form of sky burial, are where the corpse is stripped of its flesh, leaving only the bones. The bones can then either be cremated or buried whole, as stated above.

Burial at sea

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. It has been a common practice in navies and seafaring nations; in the Church of England, special forms of funeral service were added to the Book of Common Prayer to cover it. In today's parlance, "burial at sea" may also refer to the scattering of ashes in the ocean, while "whole body burial at sea" refers to the entire uncremated body being placed in the ocean at great depths.^[9] Laws vary by jurisdictions.

The concept may also include ship burial, a form of burial at sea in which the corpse is set adrift on a boat.

Composting

The process of composting human corpses, also called natural organic reduction (NOR) or terramation,^[10] turns organic matter into soil conditioner that is unrecognizable as human remains. It is performed by placing the body in a mix of wood chips, allowing thermophile microbes to decompose the body.^[11] In the United States, human composting has been legalized in six states: Washington,^[12] Colorado,^[13] Vermont (from 1 January 2023),^[14] Oregon,^[15] California (in 2027),^[16]^[17] and New York.^[18] The first such composting facility, based Kent, Washington, accepted bodies in December 2020.^[19] It developed from an earlier composting idea, formulated by architect Katrina Spade of Seattle, Washington, as the Urban Death Project.^[20]

The New York State Catholic Conference opposes this procedure and laws that legalize it.^[21]^[22]

Dissolution

Dissolution involves the breaking down of the body by solvation, e.g. in acid or a solution of lye, followed by disposal as liquid.

A specific method is alkaline hydrolysis (also called Resomation). Advocates claim the process is more environmentally friendly than both cremation and burial, due to CO₂ emissions and embalming fluids respectively. On the other hand, many find the idea of being "poured down the drain" to be undignified.^[23]

Other less common

Donation for study: after embalming the body is donated, usually to a medical institution, where it is dissected, and studied. Cadavers have also been used in experiments that would otherwise be fatal, such as Crash tests. The remains are usually eventually cremated.
- A body farm involves a similar method in which the body is not embalmed, and left to decompose to study the process of decomposition.
Space burial
In some traditions, for example that practiced by the Spanish royal family and Judaism in Second Temple period,^[24] the soft tissues are permitted to rot over a period of decades, after which the bones are entombed.^{[ citation needed ]}
Diamond synthesis, in which the remains of a body are converted into diamonds.^[25]^[26]

Means of preservation

In some cases an attempt is made to preserve some or all of a body. These methods include:

Embalming
Cryopreservation
Mummification; the most well-known examples are from ancient Egypt
Taxidermy; an extremely rare form of preserving a human body. Famous historical examples include an African tribesman, and sideshow performer Julia Pastrana.
Plastination: The preserved (embalmed) body is prepared by dissection or slicing and fluids are replaced with inert plastic for anatomical study by medical students or display in museums. This technique was pioneered by Gunther von Hagens of the Institute for Plastination.

Human remains of archaeological or medical interest are often kept in museums and private collections. This practice is controversial (See NAGPRA). In the cases of Native Americans in the United States, possession of remains and related objects is regulated by the NAGPRA Act of 1990.

Preparation for disposal

Different religions and cultures have various funeral rites that accompany the disposal of a body. Some require that all parts of the body are buried together. If an autopsy has occurred, removed parts of the body are sewn back into the body so that they may be buried with the rest of the corpse.

When it is not possible for a body to be disposed of promptly, it is generally stored at a morgue. Where this is not possible, such as on a battlefield, body bags are used. In the Western world, embalming of the body is a standard part of preparation. This is intended to temporarily preserve the corpse throughout the funeral process.

Mummification

Takabuti, an Egyptian mummy from the 7th century BC Takabuti.JPG — Takabuti, an Egyptian mummy from the 7th century BC

Mummification is the drying bodies and removing of organs. The most famous practitioners were ancient Egyptians. In the Egyptian practices, bodies are embalmed using resins and organs are removed and placed in jars. Bodies are then wrapped in bandages and placed in tombs, along with the jars of organs.^[27] Many nobles and highly ranked bureaucrats had their corpses embalmed and stored in luxurious sarcophagi inside their funeral mausoleums. Pharaohs stored their embalmed corpses in pyramids or the Valley of the Kings.^[28]

However, the Chinchorro mummies of Chile are to date the oldest mummies on Earth. The Chinchorro mummification process included the Black Mummy technique, as well as the Red Mummy technique.^[29]

Legal regulation

Many jurisdictions have enacted regulations relating to the disposal of human bodies. 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. Furthermore, in many places, failure to properly dispose of a body is a crime. In some places, it is also a crime to fail to report a death, and to fail to report the disposal of the body.^[30]

Diseased or necrotic body parts

Certain conditions such as necrosis can cause parts of the body such as limbs or internal organs to die without causing the death of the individual. In such cases the body parts are usually not given a funeral. Surgical removal of dead tissue is usually necessary to prevent gangrenous infection. Surgically removed body parts are typically disposed of as medical waste, unless they need to be preserved for cultural reasons, as described above.

Conversely, donated organs or tissue may live on long after the death of an individual.

Criminal disposal

In some cases, a body is disposed of in such a way as to prevent, hinder, or delay discovery of the body, to prevent identification of the body, or to prevent autopsy. In such cases, the deceased is considered a missing person as long as a body is not identified, unless death is so likely that the person is declared legally dead.

This often occurs as part of a murder or voluntary manslaughter. In other cases, an individual who did not intend to cause death may fear repercussions regarding a death (e.g. by involuntary manslaughter or an accident) and may attempt to prevent discovery of the body. This can exacerbate any legal consequences associated with the death.

Other motives for concealing death or the cause of death include insurance fraud or the desire to collect the pension of the deceased. An individual may commit suicide in such a way as to obscure the cause of death, allowing beneficiaries of a life insurance policy to collect on the policy.

Criminal methods encountered in fiction and actual cases include:

Illegal use of conventional methods, commonly burial in a place unlikely to draw attention, or water disposal (e.g. Cleveland Torso Murderer)
Dissolution was used by Jeffrey Dahmer, smashing or dissolving the skeleton
Cannibalism (e.g. Jeffrey Dahmer)
Grinding into small pieces for disposal in nature, disposal via a sewer system, or use as fertilizer
Boiling (used by Futoshi Matsunaga and Dennis Nilsen)
Encasing in concrete (e.g. murder of Junko Furuta and of Quang Lu, a Thornhill, Ontario loan shark found entombed in a steel barrel full of concrete in Lake Ontario)^[31]
Hiding in trash or landfill (e.g. murder of David Stack)
Feeding to animals (e.g. pigs or flesh-eating insects; used by Ted Bundy and Robert Pickton)
Abandonment in an area where the body can degrade significantly before being discovered, if ever, such as a remote area (e.g. West Mesa murders), cave, abandoned well, abandoned mine, or a neglected or hazardous third-party property (known as a dump job); sometimes dropped in an easily discovered but out-of-the-way location to obscure the identity of the murderer (e.g. Fountain Avenue, Brooklyn)
Dropping into a destructive or impassible natural hazard, such as a volcano, quicksand, or crevasse
Destruction by industrial process, such as machinery, chemical bath, molten metal, or a junked car
Injection into the legitimate body disposal system (e.g. morgue, funeral home, cemetery, crematorium, funeral pyre, cadaver donation) or killings at a health care facility (e.g. Ann Arbor Hospital Murders and Dr. X killings)
Burning, often in a building (e.g. possibly the Clinton Avenue Five)
Disguising as animal flesh (e.g. abattoir, food waste, food; as Katherine Knight did)
Attachment to a vehicle traveling to a distant place
Creating false evidence of the circumstances of death and letting investigators dispose of the body, possibly obscuring identity
Indefinite storage (e.g. in a freezer or refrigerator, as in the murder of Paul Marshall Johnson Jr.)

Illegal disposal of bodies in water

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. Situations that call for Jal Pravah are unwed girls, death from infectious disease, death from snakebite, children under age 5, holy men, pregnant women, people who have committed suicide, and the very poor who cannot afford the wood for cremation. When a family can only afford enough wood to partially incinerate a body, the remaining body parts that were not consumed by fire are set adrift in the water. 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.^[32]

Related Research Articles

A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect the dead, from interment, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honour. Customs vary between cultures and religious groups. Funerals have both normative and legal components. Common secular motivations for funerals include mourning the deceased, celebrating their life, and offering support and sympathy to the bereaved; additionally, funerals may have religious aspects that are intended to help the soul of the deceased reach the afterlife, resurrection or reincarnation.

A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay further if kept in cool and dry conditions. Some authorities restrict the use of the term to bodies deliberately embalmed with chemicals, but the use of the word to cover accidentally desiccated bodies goes back to at least the early 17th century.

Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning.

Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objects in it, and covering it over. A funeral is a ceremony that accompanies the final disposition. Evidence suggests that some archaic and early modern humans buried their dead. Burial is often seen as indicating respect for the dead. It has been used to prevent the odor of decay, to give family members closure and prevent them from witnessing the decomposition of their loved ones, and in many cultures it has been seen as a necessary step for the deceased to enter the afterlife or to give back to the cycle of life.

Decomposition or rot is the process by which dead organic substances are broken down into simpler organic or inorganic matter such as carbon dioxide, water, simple sugars and mineral salts. The process is a part of the nutrient cycle and is essential for recycling the finite matter that occupies physical space in the biosphere. Bodies of living organisms begin to decompose shortly after death. Animals, such as earthworms, also help decompose the organic materials. Organisms that do this are known as decomposers or detritivores. Although no two organisms decompose in the same way, they all undergo the same sequential stages of decomposition. The science which studies decomposition is generally referred to as taphonomy from the Greek word taphos, meaning tomb. Decomposition can also be a gradual process for organisms that have extended periods of dormancy.

Embalming is the art and science of preserving human remains by treating them to forestall decomposition. This is usually done to make the deceased suitable for viewing as part of the funeral ceremony or keep them preserved for medical purposes in an anatomical laboratory. The three goals of embalming are sanitization, presentation, and preservation, with restoration being an important additional factor in some instances. Performed successfully, embalming can help preserve the body for many years. Embalming has a long, cross-cultural history, with many cultures giving the embalming processes religious meaning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morgue</span> Place for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification or burial

A morgue or mortuary is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have customarily been refrigerated to delay decomposition.

In archaeology and anthropology, the term excarnation refers to the practice of removing the flesh and organs of the dead before burial. Excarnation may be achieved through natural means, such as leaving a dead body exposed to the elements or for animals to scavenge; or by butchering the corpse by hand. Following excarnation, some societies retrieved the excarnated bones for burial. Excarnation has been practiced throughout the world for hundreds of thousands of years. The earliest archaeological evidence of excarnation is from the Awash River Valley in Ethiopia, 160,000 years ago. Examples of excarnation include "sky burials" in parts of Asia, the Zoroastrian "Tower of Silence", and Native American "tree burials". Excarnation is practiced for a variety of spiritual and practical reasons, including the Tibetian spiritual belief that excarnation is the most generous form of burial and the Comanche practical concern that in the winter the ground is too hard for an underground burial. Excarnation sites are identifiable in the archaeological record by a concentration of smaller bones, which would be the bones that would be the easiest to fall off the body, and that would not be noticed by practitioners of excarnation.

A funeral director, also known as an undertaker or mortician, is a professional who has licenses in funeral arranging and embalming involved in the business of funeral rites. These tasks often entail the embalming and burial or cremation of the dead, as well as the arrangements for the funeral ceremony. Funeral directors may at times be asked to perform tasks such as dressing, casketing, and cossetting with the proper licenses. A funeral director may work at a funeral home or be an independent employee.

The ancient Egyptians had an elaborate set of funerary practices that they believed were necessary to ensure their immortality after death. These rituals included mummifying the body, casting magic spells, and burials with specific grave goods thought to be needed in the afterlife.

In death customs, a viewing is the time that family and friends come to see the deceased before the funeral, once the body has been prepared by a funeral home. It is generally recommended that a body first be embalmed to create the best possible presentation of the deceased. A viewing may take place at the funeral home's chapel, in a family home or at a place of worship, such as a church. Some cultures, such as the Māori of New Zealand, often take the body to the marae or tribal community hall.

Natural burial is the interment of the body of a dead person in the soil in a manner that does not inhibit decomposition but allows the body to be naturally recycled. It is an alternative to burial methods and funerary customs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death and culture</span> Role of death in several cultures

Death is dealt with differently in cultures around the world, and there are ethical issues relating to death, such as martyrdom, suicide and euthanasia. Death refers to the permanent termination of life-sustaining processes in an organism, i.e. when all biological systems of a human being cease to operate. Death and its spiritual ramifications are debated in every manner all over the world. Most civilizations dispose of their dead with rituals developed through spiritual traditions.

Alkaline hydrolysis is a process for the disposal of human and pet remains using lye and heat; it is alternative to burial, cremation, or sky burial.

The death care industry in the United States includes companies and organizations that provide services related to death: funerals, cremation or burial, and memorials. This includes for example funeral homes, coffins, crematoria, cemeteries, and headstones. The death care industry within the U.S. consists mainly of small businesses, although there has been considerable consolidation over time.

The secondary burial, or “double funeral” is a feature of prehistoric and historic gravesites. The term refers to remains that represent an exhumation and reburial, whether intentional or accidental.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and a topical guide to death:

Mummification was practiced in the Philippines only on those able to prove the loss of baby teeth. The baby teeth represented youth, losing them illustrated wisdom gained in their mouth. It also portrayed the journey of maturity. Dying without losing baby teeth was a sign of someone who never reached their full potential. Once you lose and grow your first grill, the second time you lose the teeth, it's time to go. That's because they were given a chance of proper dental hygiene. The caves containing the mummies were untouched until the 19th century.

Human composting is a process for the final disposition of human remains in which microbes convert a deceased body into compost. It is also called natural organic reduction (NOR) or terramation.

References

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