Building in which corpses are turned to ash

Burned human remains can be found in a range of situations, from archaeological funerary urns, to aeroplane crashes, to volcanic eruptions, to modern cremations. In fact, in many ways the changes we see due to fire are the same as normal diagenesis over time — just a lot quicker. Even within modern crematoria, which burn efficiently and at high temperatures, the skeleton will survive. The skeletal remains are then raked from the cremator and the remains placed in a machine known as a cremulator, which grinds the bones into ash.

Want to keep learning? This content is taken from Durham University online course,. This content is taken from Durham University online course. See other articles from this course. This article is from the online course:. Join Now. News categories. Other top stories on FutureLearn. Category: General. We take a closer look at media literacy and what makes it so important in …. The law has changed to allow funeral pyres — but only in an enclosed building — after lobbying by Hindu and Sikh religious communities.

Although burial and cremation are the most common ways of disposing of bodies, two new methods are emerging. Promession is at a more developmental stage, and uses liquid nitrogen to super-cool the body before the brittle remains are shattered using ultrasonic vibration.

The result: an odourless, organic residue which becomes a dry powder when the water content is evaporated off, and turns to compost when buried in a small bio-degradable container.

Neither method is commercially available yet in the UK, but would be a perfectly legal alternative to burial or cremation. Funeral instructions are not legally binding. Disputes over how to dispose of the body can trigger bitter rows within families.

But where the deceased made a will, the executor is legally entitled to decide the funeral arrangements — something which is not well known — and may come as a surprise where the executor is not a family member. Cohabitants do not quality under this ranking, regardless of how long they were living with the deceased. Where two people fall within the same category for example, siblings fighting over the funeral arrangements for a dead parent, or separated parents fighting over a dead child , there is no hard and fast legal rule.

English courts tend to decide on a case-by-case basis. In other countries, there is specific legislation. Read More. Bretzel and Citelli believe that death is as closely related to consumerism as life. Their goal? To create cemeteries full of trees rather than tombstones, reduce waste, and create new life out of death.

Courtesy Capsula Mundi. The idea for the Capsula Mundi came in , when the pair saw tons of furniture trashed at the end of Milan's famous design fair, "Salone del Mobile. Death is part of our life but at design fairs nobody cares about that because it's one side of our life that we don't want to look at. We don't like to think of death as part of life. The science behind it. The designers are launching the first version of their product, which is for ashes only. A later model will be suitable for bodies, to be encapsulated in the fetal position.

Bacteria in the soil first break down the bio-plastic, then the ashes gradually come into contact with the soil, without changing its chemical balance too dramatically. While the burial of ashes may be environmentally friendly, cremation has its critics: "It's a very energy-demanding process," says DeBruyen.