Disposal Of Human Remains Research Articles

A minute’s silence: the development of modern cremation in the European communist countries

ABSTRACT The idea of modern cremation was much more than a notion of a more hygienic, ecological and aesthetically acceptable method for the disposal of human remains. From its inception at the end of the 18th century, all the way into the second half of the 20th century, it was tied to various political, national and cultural ideologies, with the common factor throughout being anticlericalism and secularisation. In this paper, I will explore the development and status of the idea and practice of cremation in countries which found themselves behind the Iron Curtain after the Second World War. Did modern cremation serve in the interest of socialist social order and communist ideology, and if so, in what way? What was the fate of the idea in relation to the specificities of different communist regimes and what factors affected its adoption or rejection?

Death and Rebirth in a Southern City: Richmond’s Historic Cemeteries by Ryan K. Smith

Reviewed by: Death and Rebirth in a Southern City: Richmond’s Historic Cemeteries by Ryan K. Smith Joy M. Giguere (bio) Keywords Cemeteries, Richmond, Virginia, Race, Historical memory Death and Rebirth in a Southern City: Richmond’s Historic Cemeteries. By Ryan K. Smith. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020. Pp. 316. Paper, $34.95.) With the profusion of new publications on cemeteries and landscapes of memory, public monuments and memorials, patterns of care for and disposal of human remains, and historic preservation, it would be an under-statement to say that the study of American commemorative culture has flowered in recent years. Jeffrey Smith’s The Rural Cemetery Movement: Places of Paradox in Nineteenth Century America (Lanham, MD, 2017), James Cothran and Erica Danylchak’s Grave Landscapes: The Nineteenth-Century Rural Cemetery Movement (Columbia, SC, 2018), Thomas J. Brown’s Civil War Monuments and the Militarization of America (Chapel Hill, NC, 2019), and Till Death Do Us Part: American Ethnic Cemeteries as Borders Uncrossed (Jackson, MS, 2020), edited by Allan Amanik and Kami Fletcher, are just a handful of new works that testify to the current recognition among historians of how the treatment and memorialization of the dead provide a deeper understanding of the social and cultural dynamics of the living over time and space. Ryan K. Smith’s Death and Rebirth in a Southern City: Richmond’s Historic Cemeteries adds significantly to the depth of this recent explosion in public interest and scholarship by providing a focused study of cemeteries located in Richmond, Virginia. Examining roughly twenty burying grounds that Smith regards as “the largest or most instructive” (10) for understanding the social, religious, and racial dynamics of Richmond’s history, Death and Rebirth in a Southern City is as much a meditation on broader historical and contemporary trends concerning the creation, maintenance, and preservation of burying grounds in urban centers across the nation as it is a work of local history. Breaking with traditional patterns of cemetery-related scholarship that often focus on a single cemetery (or type of cemetery) or time period, Smith provides what could best be described as extended biographies of Richmond’s major burial sites, wherein he analyzes these spaces as reflections [End Page 710] of the values, power dynamics, and struggles of the living communities they served as much as they functioned as repositories for the dead. Addressed in eight thematic and roughly chronological chapters, these burying grounds include historically white spaces such as St. John’s Churchyard (est. 1741), Shockoe Hill Cemetery (est. 1822), and Hollywood Cemetery (est. 1847); African American spaces such as the African Burial Ground (est. 1700s), the Barton Heights Cemeteries (est. 1815), Evergreen Cemetery (est. 1891), and East End Cemetery (est. 1897); the Jewish Hebrew Cemetery (est. 1816) and Sir Moses Montefiore Cemetery (est. 1886); and cemeteries where both Black and white burials took place, such as the city-owned Oakwood Cemetery (est. 1854) and Richmond National Cemetery (est. 1866). Regarding the broad temporal parameters of his book, Smith explains in his introduction, “since general studies of cemeteries have rarely bridged their subjects’ origins with the dynamics of their modern preservation, this book attempts to forward a model here” (10). Smith thus provides a dynamic new framework for future cemetery scholarship, for by examining the deeper history of the creation and evolution of Richmond’s burying grounds, he is not just considering the changing patterns of care for and disposal of the dead or the evolution in cemetery aesthetics. Rather, by pushing his gaze to the present, Smith ably charts the history of urban development in Richmond and how this reflects the broader patterns of segregation and ongoing marginalization of the African American community despite the gains of the civil rights movement and burial desegregation in the late 1960s. Such patterns appear in stark relief with the historical trajectory of white burying grounds. Even in Smith’s chapter on Jewish cemeteries, he illustrates how, despite their religious distinctiveness and at times marginalization from the dominant Christian community, the ability of these cemeteries to withstand the forces of urban development and their survival as dynamic and useful spaces for the dead is a testament to how collective whiteness transcended...

Vigilancia tecnológica e inteligencia competitiva para el sector funerario, caso “grupo Obelisco Ltda”

Este artículo muestra los resultados del proyecto: estudio de vigilancia tecnológica e inteligencia competitiva para la empresa Grupo Obelisco Ltda., orientado a la diversificación de su portafolio de servicios en la implementación del proceso de destino final de los restos humanos. El trabajo se adelantó bajo el enfoque mixto, cualitativo y cuantitativo, a través de un estudio descriptivo, tomando como base fundamental la metodología de vigilancia tecnológica Innovitech. A través de la búsqueda de información especializada, se pudo identificar una limitada producción científica frente a las tecnologías emergentes en disposición de restos humanos, convirtiéndose en un tema poco documentado. Teniendo en cuenta las características de la empresa Grupo Obelisco Ltda., las tendencias del sector y el objetivo de la investigación, se concluye que dentro de las tendencias tecnológicas más viables son: urna biodegradable, proceso de hidrólisis alcalina, Criodesecación y Cementerio ecológico.

The laundry foetus; disposal of human remains, the Anatomy Act 1984 and the Human Tissue Act 2004

Careless attention to the disposal of human remains resulted in this case of the foetus in the laundry; an error of omission. Deliberate illegal abstraction of human remains such as was practiced by Professor van Velzen; an error of commission. These and other matters including the public dissection by Professor Gunther von Hagens are discussed with the relevant UK laws and regulations. The intriguing question raised in the BMJ from a recent amputee: "Can I cremate my own leg?" is mentioned. The answer was no.

Mass Fatality Management following the South Asian Tsunami Disaster: Case Studies in Thailand, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka

BackgroundFollowing natural disasters, mismanagement of the dead has consequences for the psychological well-being of survivors. However, no technical guidelines currently exist for managing mass fatalities following large natural disasters. Existing methods of mass fatality management are not directly transferable as they are designed for transport accidents and acts of terrorism. Furthermore, no information is currently available about post-disaster management of the dead following previous large natural disasters.Methods and FindingsAfter the tsunami disaster on 26 December 2004, we conducted three descriptive case studies to systematically document how the dead were managed in Thailand, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. We considered the following parameters: body recovery and storage, identification, disposal of human remains, and health risks from dead bodies. We used participant observations as members of post-tsunami response teams, conducted semi-structured interviews with key informants, and collected information from published and unpublished documents.Refrigeration for preserving human remains was not available soon enough after the disaster, necessitating the use of other methods such as dry ice or temporary burial. No country had sufficient forensic capacity to identify thousands of victims. Rapid decomposition made visual identification almost impossible after 24–48 h. In Thailand, most forensic identification was made using dental and fingerprint data. Few victims were identified from DNA. Lack of national or local mass fatality plans further limited the quality and timeliness of response, a problem which was exacerbated by the absence of practical field guidelines or an international agency providing technical support.ConclusionsEmergency response should not add to the distress of affected communities by inappropriately disposing of the victims. The rights of survivors to see their dead treated with dignity and respect requires practical guidelines and technical support. Mass fatality management following natural disasters needs to be informed by further field research and supported by a network of regional and international forensic institutes and agencies.

DISPOSAL OF HUMAN REMAINS IN THE NEW GUINEA HIGHLANDS

THIS paper is a presentation of unpublished data on burial ceremonies and disposal of human remains in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, and a discussion of the archaeological interpretation. My personal interest in this subject arose in 1978 while on fieldwork at Kuk, in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea: excavating what I thought was a prehistoric cooking place, I found to my surprise that I was unearthing human remains I was in fact digging in the middle of a cemetery containing numerous graves. Because of this unexpected find, I started to scrutinize early patrol reports available in Mount Hagen to find out how people were traditionally buried at the time of European contact. This preliminary analysis does not deal with my field data, but speculates only on what could probably remain in archaeological deposits as a result of these burial practices. I am concerned with how to recognize archaeological burial sites throughout the Highlands. Most of the abstracts presented here are from reports of patrols made shortly after European pacification in their respective areas. Although there were certainly some significant changes in the socio-economic life of these tribes,1 the following accounts probably describe traditional burial practices, not yet modified by the Administration nor the Missions.