As a historical question, 90% of the human species cannot afford to bury there dead.

So then, How are the dead buried?

Who is remembered in 5,000 years (when the Egyptian gods return)?

Punctuation. Apollogeze

Are you pulling our legs? Humans have buried their dead since at least caveman days, long before the concept of money existed.

Not to mention cremation, exposure, internment in cairns/mausoleums, disposal at sea, and all the various other historical methods of funeral rites besides burial. None of which required money, other than the cost of building some of the more elaborate mausoleums.


(Based on the nonsensical nature of the post, the spelling/grammar, and the time stamp, I suspect LS1 GTO was "in his cups" when he posted this.)

Seriously? How expensive do you think it is to shovel out a grave?

Historically?

Dig hole
Dump body in hole
Fill hole

In the end, the worms get us anyway.

In addition to what has already been mentioned, keep in mind that people always find ways to afford what’s truly important to them, whether it’s a boat, a pickup capable of towing an Abrams tank that’s used for commuting from the trailer park to a job at the fast food restaurant, or interring loved ones as they believe is appropriate.

History is full of examples of expensive possessions having been interred with the deceased or elaborate methods to prepare the body. The reasons for all that range from just love and respect to superstitions and fears about what the spirits might do or not do on behalf of the living. Such practices weren’t universal, of course, but I don’t believe it’s true that “90%” of us can’t afford burials or other ways of disposing of the dead.

quote:

Originally posted by Yellow Jacket:
Historically?

Dig hole
Dump body in hole
Fill hole

Coincidentally they use a very similar method today.

After last weeks claim of burying the dead in trenches in New York, I looked into the https://www.hartisland.net/ Hart island project....

They bury the penniless on the island and the city pays, they use prisoners and pay them a dollar an hour.

I emailed a lady about some questions. After 25 years, they open the trench, scoop all bones and shove them to the end and bury them again. Then re-use the trench. So far they have buried a million bodies since the end of the civil war there.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
(Based on the nonsensical nature of the post, the spelling/grammar, and the time stamp, I suspect LS1 GTO was "in his cups" when he posted this.)

I think so too... and I note he hasn't made it back into the thread yet...

Interesting article about the State hospital in my town with a cemetery for paupers and ex-patients. When I worked at a college that had a medical school, I was told that the cadavers were sent here after the students had finished dissecting them.

Link: http://www.oddthingsiveseen.co...story-tewksbury.html

A number of Near Eastern sites in the Neolithic period also practiced intramural burial (i.e. you bury people in the walls or under the floor of your house). It was practiced in the early phases of settlement in Jericho, for instance.

Cool paper with very good illustrations on the practice at the very well studied Turkish site Catalhoyuk: intramural burials

It is also very common that deposited remains are left to rot, then swept aside to make room for more bodies. For example, a number of Mycenaean tholos tombs (that weren't grave robbed) show this practice in the Greek bronze age.

But, anyway, to the main point, money is irrelevant. Neanderthal burials at Shanidar caves (particularly cave 4) show that even our co-species decorated and prepared their dead for burial with trinkets and makeup. Shanidar was a real ground-breaking discovery for anthropology, showing that it's not just our species that tends to its dead, but other subspecies of humans as well.

I'm holding out for a funeral pyre

Around these parts, the department of social services pays funeral homes for indigent burials, which means they are funded by local property taxes.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
(Based on the nonsensical nature of the post, the spelling/grammar, and the time stamp, I suspect LS1 GTO was "in his cups" when he posted this.)

I think so too... and I note he hasn't made it back into the thread yet...

I find his late night philosophical posts entertaining.

Dude, have you ever thought why.....?

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
(Based on the nonsensical nature of the post, the spelling/grammar, and the time stamp, I suspect LS1 GTO was "in his cups" when he posted this.)

I think so too... and I note he hasn't made it back into the thread yet...

He just got up and able to move about.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:

quote:

Originally posted by Yellow Jacket:
Historically?

Dig hole
Dump body in hole
Fill hole

Coincidentally they use a very similar method today.

Not on the frozen tundra, Hawaiian islands, of middle of Africa where a stick is your only possession.

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
Not on the frozen tundra, Hawaiian islands, of middle of Africa where a stick is your only possession.

Rock cairn.
Cremation.
Sink it in the sea.
Dig a hole with the stick and your bare hands.
Or just leave the body exposed for the scavengers to dispose of. (Yes, that's traditional in some cultures.)

I'm not dead yet....