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A history of cremation in the West: What, when and where n Evidence of cremation practices can be n While the practice of cremation was built the first crematory chamber in traced to prehistoric and preliterate times. common among Romans, cremation had Washington, Pennsylvania, for his own Historians generally accept that burning of become rare and disliked by Jews and personal cremation. dead bodies began during the early Stone early Christians, who considered it pagan. 1878 – The first crematory in Germany Age, around 3000 B.C., in the general clearly preferred sepulcher was built and opened in Gotha. vicinity of Eastern Europe and the Near entombment. East. The Welch eccentric Dr. William Price During the year 400 A.D., the Christianiza­ attempted to cremate his dead child, was During the late , cremation tion of the by Constantine arrested and challenged the law against began to spread across northern Europe. completely eliminated cremation. The cremation in England. The courts sided Decorative found in western focus shifted from the body being with Dr. Price, making it legal for people in Russia attest to cremation’s presence. an item of little importance to the religious England to cremate their dead. From the beginning to the middle of conviction that the human body was the Age (2500 B.C.- 800 B.C.), sacred. For the next 1,500 years, earth 1884—The first free-standing public cremation migrated to the British Isles, remained the accepted method of crematory in the United States was built in Hungary, Northern Italy, Span, Portugal, disposition throughout Europe, though Lancaster, Pennsyl­vania. Cultural support Western Asia Minor, Northern Europe and cremation still took place. for cremation in America in the early years Ireland. came mostly from liberal Protestant clergy 789 A.D. Charlemagne (742-814) who wanted to reform burial practices and n 1000 B.C., in the Mycenaean Age, proclaimed that any cremation is punish­ from medical professionals concerned with the Greeks started using cremation as able by for those who participate. health conditions around old , an integral part of their elaborate burial 1300 – Pope Boniface (1235-1303) issued particularly in metropolitan areas. customs. The respected ancient historian the statement that any Catholic who Pliny writes about the cremation practice 1886 – Pope Leo XIII issued Canon Law cremates or participates in cremation will and by the time of the poet and historian 1203 which forbade cremation to Roman be excommunicated. (800 B.C.), cremation had become Catholics and also prohibited Roman the dominant method used by the Greeks 1409 – The first oven which can generate Catholics from joining cremation societies, for the disposal of the dead. Cremation high heat was invented. whose purpose the church feared was to was encouraged for reasons of health and deny the bodily . expedient burial of slain warriors in this 1428 – Biblical translator battle-scarred country. was exhumed and cremated 44 years 1899 – The Modern Cremationist after his death as punishment by the Magazine began publication. n The early Romans appeared to have Roman for heresy. copied the Greeks by adopting cremation 1900 – Crematories sprang up throughout around 600 B.C., and it became so preva­ 1658 – Sir wrote a the United States and Great Britain. In lent that decrees were issued in book concerning and cremation 1900 there were already 20 crematories the mid-5th century against cremating practices called “Hydriotaphia or operating in the U.S., and by the time that bodies within the city walls of Rome. Burial.” Dr. Hugo Erichsen founded the Cremation Association of America in 1913, there The writer Virgil (70 B.C.-19 B.C.) wrote 1710 – The wife of the treasurer of Ireland were 52 crematories in North America. about Roman cremation practices and publically expressed her wish to be endorsed the “extramural” (outside the city cremated. 1920 – The first Cremation Act was walls) approach to cremation. During the passed in the British Parliament. golden age of Rome (27 B.C.-395 A.D.), 1826 – The gas oven was invented. 1908 – The refered cremation was widely practiced, and the 1869—1872 three Italian scientists work to the practice of cremation as a “sinister creation of elaborate cremation urns was independently to invent an oven which movement.” a prized skill for artisans. Also during this can generate enough heat to easily period, were developed. cremate a dead human body. One of the 1913 – The Cremation Society of n 177 A.D. – As described by the Italian scientists and inventors, Professor American was founded. Brunetti, perfected a model and displayed historian Eusebius (263 A.D.-339 A.D.), 1937 – The International Cremation it at the 1873 Vienna Exposition. the Romans persecuted Christians in Federation was founded. Lyon, after which they cremated all of the 1874 – Sir Henry Thompson (1820-1904), 1963 – Vatican II removed the strict ’ bodies as a way of mocking the physician to Britain’s , prohibition against cremation for Roman Christian theology and belief in a literal attended the Vienna Exposition and was Catholics. bodily resurrection. intrigued by the cremation oven. Sir Henry n 217 A.D. – The Emperor Severus (145 eventually started the Cremation Society 1969 – The Mungo Lady, the world’s A.D.-211 A.D.) died and was cremated in of England. Concern about dangerous oldest known cremation was discovered in York in the British Isles. Seven years later, conditions in England and . his ashes were returned to Rome. possible health effects prompted Sir Henry to begin the cremation society. The first 1975 – The Cremation Society of America n 381 A.D. – The Emperor Theodosius crematory in England opened at changed its name to the Cremation (347 A.D.-395 A.D.) forbade and in 1878. Association of North American (CANA). cremations inside the walls of Rome. 1876 – Dr. Francis Julius Lemoyne 2012: The cremation rate continues to rise. r

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hen exploring the history of death in general, three clear and distinct facts emerge. First is the Wundisputed, unarguable and inevitable fact that the death rate globally is a perfect, round, even 100 percent. This fact concerns many people, but today, it is also conveniently ignored by just as many, if not more. Second is the almost unarguable fact that concerning the disposition of dead, two methods have been available to people to dispose of their dead, earth burial and cremation. Third is the almost always unspoken fact that throughout history, human beings have found disposing of their dead both challenging and unpleasant. To be sure, there are wide variations in and approaches to earth burial and cremation. For example, there is a farmer in the Midwest who, for a small fee, will take a sampling of the cremated remains, fill a shotgun shell with a small portion and blast them into the air. Then there are the unique Towers of Silence, where the dead body is left exposed to the environment, where birds are allowed to devour the corpse. The birds in turn do the natural thing and deposit recycled remnants throughout the countryside, a type of post- mortem fertilizer cycle, if you will. However, even with the myriad variations that people throughout history have created to dispose of their dead (and there have been many), still, in the end it comes down to two simple choices, burn or bury. Another consistent theme in the history of dealing with the dead is the abundantly clear fact that living people find dead people problematic, and with good reason. To not properly care for our dead is, in most places on earth, unkind, unlawful and unsanitary. People have a consistent history of viewing corpses as problematic. The question which has confronted every generation since the beginning of time concerning dead people comes down to this: “What should we do with them?” The answers that people throughout history have come up with are fascinating, to say the very least, and if we were to explore all the possible answers, our work would never come to an end. But the purpose of this essay is very specific: to explore the history of cremation. Why study history? Many people like and some even love history, but possibly only a few loyal purists

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In the Aeneid, Virgil lambasts the tasteless, crude etiquette of cremation conducted without religious funeral rituals and ceremonial fanfare, done merely for profit and expediency (a kind of contemporary immediate disposition). On the other hand, Virgil praises a conflagration in which the correct kinds of dried leaves, twigs and dead cypresses are set ablaze to the prayerful cries of the mourners circling the cremation funeral . actually enjoy learning the myriad dates philosopher George Santayana hauntingly important because it represents the world’s which seem to be connected with every reminds us: “Those who forget their past are oldest known cremation. historical account, and which so many people condemned to repeat it.” Archeologists and anthropologists say that are compelled to memorize in school. Often cremation probably started during the Stone that proves to be a tortuous experience, with Significant events Age in the Near East and some places on the the result that many people end up hating There are no records of a time in history European continent. history. when cremation has not been present, and Throughout history (until contemporary Certainly dates are important, but as we because of this no one really knows where times), earth burial by far exceeded cremation will soon see, cremation actually started and when the practice began. In other words, as the preferred, and most times the most before we had dates, so instead of a text cremation history has no definite beginning. accessible and practical, method of taking oulined using dates, this chapter is instead If a student of this history looks for primary care of the age-old problem of disposing of written as an historical narrative with a sources, verifiable documents or even our dead. few references to dates tossed in for good drawings concerning the genesis of One of the practical impediments to the measure. cremation, that student is doomed to failure. use of cremation was the consistent inability This chapter is a story about cremation, Cremation is so ancient that much of what of these ancient peoples (and this problem and most people love being told stories about has been promoted as historical fact is in truth continued for a long time) to generate enough any subject. If it is anything, the story of based on anecdotes, oral tradition and - heat to actually burn a dead body thoroughly, cremation is a story about how people have intended speculation. and thoroughly is the key word. approached the issue of using to dispose While historical verification of the One can only speculate just how many of dead bodies. People addicted to dates can beginnings of cremation is somewhat sketchy, “botched” cremations were performed which refer to the historical chronology on page 48. what we do have is the story of “The Mungo resulted in a partially burned . It is The more people know about their history, Lady.” safe to conclude that a partially cremated the more chances they have of being wiser In the late 1960s, Professor Jim Bowler, dead body would have been just as repugnant and more judicious as they go about their a geomorphologist with the University and distasteful to our ancestors daily lives. Winston Churchill was once of Melbourne (Australia), discovered as it is today when the crematory retort quoted as saying: “Study history, study the fossilized remains of a woman in the malfunctions and the goes out half-way history, study history.” Willandra Lakes Region of Lake Mungo, in through the process. Let me first remind you to keep in mind New South , Australia. Immediately the There was also another practical reason the truth of the old adage that history repeats corpse was dubbed The Mungo Lady. When cremation was problematic for these ancient itself. As we will see, there is really nothing her remains were carbon dated, she was people: Wood had other much more vital new under the sun concerning cremation, found to have lived approximately 20,000 purposes for these people than creation of a though the members of each and every to 26,000 years ago, making her one of the funeral pyre. To survive they needed wood generation believe their history is unique and oldest anatomically modern ever to burn for food, and for heat. Wood their problems are unlike any the world has discovered. equaled literal survival. ever seen before. It was certain that after The Mungo Lady Monumental, history-changing events died, her remains were cremated. From burn From a military necessity in Greece in reality are very rare. In talking about the mark patterns on the bones, it was determined to status symbol in Rome history of cremation, the most important that the Mungo Lady’s remains had under­ The beginnings of the acceptance of event was development of a way to generate gone an unusual ritual for the time. The cremation, regardless of available and tremendous amounts of heat in a way that body was burned, then the bones were partly convenience, appear to be rooted in the produced a high temperature quickly. This crushed and then the cremated remains were thinking and philosophies of the Greeks. was no easy task, as we shall soon see, but burned for a second time. The first cremation The Greeks embraced cremation not claiming that anything to do with cremation probably was botched and did not complete because of some odd ritual requirement qualified as a monumental historical event is the burning process, and that was the reason which used fire, but on the revolutionarily an overstatement. for the second. However, a second theory new idea (for the time) of public health Also, remember that every generation, speculates that possibly her descendents concerns. None other than Plato himself most particularly one ignorant or uninterested performed this unusual ritual to ensure that proclaimed that no earth burials (including in their history, is likely compelled to repeat she did not return to haunt them. burial of cremated remains) should be the mistakes of the past. As the great Harvard The discovery of The Mungo Lady was made in agricultural fields or by places ➤to page 52 50 ICCFA Magazine “Like” the ICCFA on Facebook & friend “ICCFA Staff” Cremation history

➤from page 50 in which the correct kinds of dried leaves, cremation the Roman way was not an activity which were highly populated. It would be a twigs and dead cypresses are set ablaze to to be pulled off clandestinely. great overstatement to say that the Greeks the prayerful cries of the mourners circling Another powerful influence was the embraced cremation on the level we see the cremation funeral pyre. growth of a new religion. The spread of currently in some places, but it is clear The Romans were quite skilled at putting played a tremendous role in the they accepted cremation in a way not seen on elaborate ceremonies, pageants and decline of cremation. before. rituals. Today’s New Orleans Mardi Gras To explore this, it helps to begin with The Greeks also used cremation as celebrations harken back to the Roman the origins of Christianity in Judaism. One a practical method of bringing back funeral processions of old. The Romans of both is that they are religions the bodies of warriors who had died even had their own version of ancient focused on books. Before the Jewish writings, gloriously in battle in some far off land. funeral directors, called libitianrius, who most religious activities were a series of The Greeks also were the first to decide were in business to organize all type of random rituals, many times brutal ones that in the instance of cremation you could death activities, including cremations. involving to myriad gods. For the also have earth burial—simply bury the The poor in both Rome and Greece most part, the rituals and beliefs attached to cremated remains. Yes, the ancient Greeks might well have been cremated, but they these “mystery religions” (and there were invented the cremation urn burial. Here received communal cremations. The thousands of them) were not written down. then is a good example of the truth that elaborateness of Roman cremations made The emergence of Judaism changed all that. there is nothing new under the sun, for them life’s last status symbol for those Historically, little importance was placed contemporary cremation practices use this who could afford to pay. The indigent went on the worth of just one human life; life was method of inurnment routinely. up in small flickering , usually as cheap. But in Jewish texts, each human being Frequent and protracted battles a group, while the wealthy departed this was seen as a creation of God, as having throughout the ancient classical world made world in towering infernos. However, such value. Hence there emerged from Jewish cremation first commonplace and then the cremation opulence was not to last. teachings for the first time in world history a preferred means of disposal of the heroic It will be helpful here to interject the reverence for the sacredness of every human warrior dead. Though ground burials were reminder that cremation, while it is evident life. You did not have to have financial wealth held for most people, cremation­ became so throughout history, is not the oldest form or royalty to qualify as important in the eyes closely associated with valor, manly virtue, of disposing of a dead body—earth burial of God. Jewish reverence for human life patriotism and military glory that in time the holds that record—and cremation always translated quickly into teachings concerning Greeks came to regard it as the only fitting has involved the tensions created by the reverence for the dead. end to an epic life. merger of sacred rituals combined with Death was a highly significant event for Status symbols are not new. In ancient secular customs. a Jewish family. A close relative would close Greece, the greater the hero’s glory, the History is never black and white; it is a the eyes of the deceased. The dead body was bigger the cremation conflagration needed series of transitional grays. At this juncture then bathed, fully dressed and humbly carried to be. The Iliad tells how elaborate and we need to make the first such transition on a wooden bier to the burial site. Cremation elegant cremation became for Greek by talking about religion as a powerful was unheard of, and the reason the Jews heroes. For instance, Zeus compels the influence in the history of cremation. discarded cremation is interesting, because victorious Achilles to turn over the corpse without question they would have been of Hector so that the slain hero’s father, The influence of religion exposed to the practice in their already long King Priam of Troy, can cremate his son About 100 years after the death of Jesus, the and eventful history. in royal style. Achilles earlier had ordered of cremation slowed down considerably The early Jewish experience was one of a huge, 100-square-foot funeral pyre built and in some places, stopped. The cutoff is community, humility and sharing as key to to gloriously burn to ashes the body of historically abrupt and only suggestively survival. Because each individual person had his slain friend Patroclus. After an understood, but two powerful factors special significance, the Jewish community pierced Achilles’ all-too-vulnerable heel, probably contributed to this snuffing out of approached each death with quiet reverence, the leader of the Trojan War was himself the cremation fires. with solemn rituals, with prayers, with the afforded the most spectacular The first is a practical explanation. As reading of verses from their sacred texts and yet. It was a classic case of good, old- world exploration increased, more ships also with humility. fashioned one-upmanship. were needed, and in order to build ships, and It appears that the Jews were disassocia­ ­ As the Greeks went, so did the Romans, large ships to boot, you needed wood, tons of ting themselves from what they considered though the inventive and economically wood. the , the status symbols, the flash savvy Romans turned cremation into profit, During the first millennium after the death and the pageantry of the Greek and Roman or at least tried to. In the Aeneid, Virgil of Jesus, the Roman Empire experienced a way of death. The result was that they turned lambasts the tasteless, crude etiquette of severe shortage of wood because so many their backs on cremation. Cremation was seen cremation conducted without religious trees had been felled for centuries to fuel their as both a total destruction of God’s creation funeral rituals and ceremonial fanfare, done magnificent cremation . The Roman and also proud, arrogant and totally lacking in merely for profit and expediency (a kind of government placed severe restrictions on the humility. contemporary immediate disposition). On use of timber, and this eventually turned into In addition, fire was often linked to the other hand, Virgil praises a conflagration a ban on the use of wood for cremation, and punishment in Jewish thinking, a view later

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Furnaces that could melt iron had been invented, but they were useless in cremation, because those “blast” would completely vaporize a human body, which is not what was wanted. adopted by Christians. Pope Paul VI removed Canon Law #1203, were being built. The first written record of Early Christianity did not explicitly forbid and since then the cremation rate has risen an oven refers to one built in 1490 in Alsace, cremation (as the church later would), but steadily. France. It was made entirely of brick and tile, it sternly frowned on burning the body of a Christianity has a strong history of including the flue. Christian for two reasons. No. 1, the pagans resisting cremation, though nothing lasts Around 1728, cast iron ovens were being routinely cremated their dead to mock the forever. In parts of Europe, cremation was made in quantity, but few if any people Christian belief in a bodily resurrection, and strictly forbidden by law, even punishable by associated ovens with cremations. By the late No. 2 and more compelling, Jesus had not death if combined with pagan rites. Church 1860s, however, a number of independent been cremated. authorities sometimes used cremation to inventors, particularly in Italy, were experi­ During the early days of Christianity, punish heretics, including burning the person menting with developing a heat source Romans incinerated the bodies of martyrs alive at the stake. Over time, the church capable of incinerating a dead body, but they and then scattered the remains. The result of succeeded in associating cremation with fiery were still stymied by the age-old challenge of this Roman insult was the development of the eternal punishment. Overall, the Christian generating enough sustained heat to complete underground catacombs where the Christians’ opposition to cremation lasted for 1,500 the job. sacred dead would be protected, and the years. Furnaces that could melt iron had been growing prohibition of cremation as a choice The spread of books and literacy invented, but they were useless in cremation, for Christians. spawned free thinkers who challenged the because those “blast” furnaces would It was true that permission could be given prohibition of cremation. Some of Protestant completely vaporize a human body, which is to use cremation under “extraordinary” denominations came to accept cremation, the not what was wanted. circumstances such as the plague years theological rationale being that if God can Things began to look up for cremation during the , but as a general rule resurrect an entire dead body, then God can when the British inventor James the early Christians, and later the organized just as easily resurrect a bowl of ashes and Sharp patented a gas oven in 1826, but the Catholic Church, outlawed cremation as a create a new body. initial operation was unsuccessful. By the cruel attack by pagans against the fervent By 1658, Sir Thomas Browne authored a 1870s, the gas oven had been perfected, and Christian hope of a reunited body and soul at book on burial customs, including an honest gas lights, gas ovens and gas heating sources the final resurrection. and balanced narrative on cremation, of were being used in millions of homes. The first government-proclaimed which he approved. Around this time, there was growing prohibition against cremation for Christians In 1710, none other than the wife of the support for cremation in Germany and in came when Constantine the Great, the first treasurer of Ireland boldly and with great England. In England none other than the world leader of importance to embrace conviction and bravado (for a woman of the personal surgeon to Queen Victoria, Sir Christianity, prohibited cremation everywhere time) made known her wishes to be cremated, Henry Thompson, inspired the cremation within his realm. Some of the world’s based on the horrible condition of most of movement in his country. Sir Henry was religions, including , practice the churchyards she had examined. Her wish concerned with the deplorable conditions cremation as an essential part of their death provoked an outcry, particularly from the of the English churchyards, and saw it as a rituals, but to this day, Christianity has never Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. genuine threat to public health. truly been at peace with cremation. In 1822, the famous English poet Sir Henry attended the Vienna Exposition This anti-cremation feeling became Percy Bysshe Shelley was drowned in the and saw Professor Brunetti’s invention; so pronounced in the Roman Catholic Mediterranean and, according to the Tuscan he returned to England with a cremation Church that in May 1886, Pope Leo XIII health laws of the time, was cremated. His mission in mind. He wrote an article favoring promulgated Canon Law #1203, which devoted fans started requesting cremation for cremation, and a debate both written and read: “The bodies of the faithful must be themselves. spoken quickly began between Sir Henry buried; cremation is forbidden.” Also, Roman It is time to examine another transition in and the (of course firmly Catholics were forbidden from joining the history of cremation, in . against cremation), as well as many members societies formed to spread the practice of of the public, who held strong opinions for cremation, because according to the Vatican Generating enough heat and against cremation. in 1886, such a membership implied a denial Cremation has one unique requirement: heat In 1874, Sir Henry formed the Cremation of the resurrection of the body. and a lot of it. As we have already esta­ Society of England with a membership During the Vatican II council, a discussion blished, obtaining heat used to be a monu­ comprised mostly of free thinkers, Unitarians, was started of how cremation could fit into mental task, and there were no guarantees of liberals, socialists and people (the newspapers the Roman Catholic funeral rite, allowing the having enough to get the job done. reported) without any professed religious human body to be treated with the dignity A brief history of ovens and furnaces will convictions. that it deserves. It had become apparent that be helpful here, because ovens revolutionized By 1878, the Cremation Society of in some cases cremation was local custom, cremation. Ancient people first cooked on England erected its first crematory in and in other cases it was necessary for open fires. By the Middle Ages, tall brick Woking and used a which clearly economic or health reasons. On May 8, 1963, and mortar , often with chimneys, generated enough heat for the required

Start every day at the ICCFA Café at www.iccfa.com October 2012 53 Cremation history time to thoroughly cremate a dead human named “Iesu Grist” (Welsh for Jesus Christ). Cremation is still rising in acceptance body. However the growth of the Cremation The infant died five later, and Dr. today. However, remember that historically, Society of England was slow. Price, believing that burying a corpse polluted cremation fell out of favor and remained there Now enter the eccentric yet highly creative the earth, decided to cremate his son’s body. for 1,500 years. We have seen the acceptance and infamous Dr. William Price of Wales. When Dr. Price himself started the of cremation in contemporary life only Dr. Price received much fame and attention cremation pyre, many townspeople noticed since the late 1800s, a brief period of time for his deep involvement with a revival of the fire, and when they found out that Dr. historically speaking. the Druid religion in his native country. Dr. Price was trying to cremate his own son, the It is time for our last transition in our gray Price today is recognized as one of the most crowd flew into a rage and had him arrested area of history: Cultural nuances that affect unusual people to live in Victorian Britain. before the child’s body had been burned. attitudes toward death. Dr. Price had many eccentricities. He Dr. Price was charged, as the arresting would not wear socks because he thought officers were convinced that cremation was a Cultural attitudes them unhygienic. He wore a large fur hat and crime. At his trial, Dr. Price defended himself Cultures are somewhat fickle, yet the dressed in bright green coats covered with and declared that while the law did not state members of every culture think the way they bright red buttons. He thought he had been that cremation was legal, it also did not state do things is the right way. Sociologists call specifically chosen by a Druid god to deliver that it was illegal. The judge agreed, and Dr. this “ethnocentrism,” and ethnocentrism the Welsh people from bondage from Great Price was freed. He finally was able to give (meaning the emotional attitude that my Britain. Dr. Price said he did not believe in his son a cremation which included Druidic culture is the best) is alive and well when it marriage, proclaiming it to be an enslavement prayers. comes to death rituals and the choices people of women, but nonetheless, he married twice. In the United States, Dr. Julius Lemoyne make concerning the ultimate disposition of However, it was Dr. Price’s stance on constructed a crematory in Washington, their dead. cremation that both got him into trouble and Pennsylvania, basically to cremate his own However, for all our cultural diversity, also made him a cremation hero in Great body, not for use by the public. historically one gold thread has united most Britain, changing the course of cremation in By the turn of the 20th century, cremation cultures worldwide where the issue of death that country forever. Here is the story. was again on the ascendency. As always has been concerned, and that common thread In 1883, Dr. Price had a son whom he happens, history was repeating itself. was the mystery of death.

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