Nobonita Chowdhury
As much as we might try to avoid the topic, death is inevitable. Yet we try to avoid thinking about it altogether. Most major religions dictate that all men will return to the dirt once they die, regardless of social status. I personally believe that the concept of death has a nice connotation attached to it. Had we been more accepting of death, then the world would not be as capitalistic as it is. Look at Bhutan for instance. The nation has the highest rate of “Gross National Happiness” in the world. It’s eco friendly, and the locals lead a simple lifestyle.
One of the key reasons for all of this is their acceptance of death. So basically, if you want to lead a peaceful life like the Bhutanese, embrace death, and think about it at least once a day. So what better way to start thinking about it than to start thinking about funerals? Let alone the evolution of it? Who knows, it might even help you plan your own.
IRAQ (60,000 BC): Neanderthal men buried their dead with flowers. This was the earliest evidence of “first funeral”.
TIBET (8,560 BC): Tibet has this unique funeral custom called “sky-burial”. This millennia old ritual is still in practice today in some countries. In this ritual, the body is left in an elevated area and consumed by wild vultures. And we thought burial and cremation were scary! But oh well, these folks make no delay in proving the concept of the insignificance of the human body once dead.
EGYPT (3,400 BC):
I’d bet a hundred that you knew about this particular ritual. Mummification: if you didn’t know about this, then you’ve probably been living under a rock; a GIANT one. In this ritual the organs are removed from the body and placed in jars. The body is preserved with chemicals, a practice known as embalming that is still in use today.
EGYPT (1,323 BC):
The ancient Egyptians were definitely creative with their dead. Now we’ll be looking at a more recent method of burial. One probably meant for the great ones (AKA Pharaohs and such). Here’s what they did with King Tutankhamen: they entombed him in golden sarcophagus. If you want to measure up his burial with today’s market value, that would be 3000lbs X 25,600$ per pound of gold. So basically King Tut’s burial cost $76.8 million in 21st century dollars, making it history’s most expensive casket.
GREECE (800 BC):
In 800 BC cremation becomes the most common method to dispose of ancient Greeks, using an open fire called a funeral pyre.
PERU (500 BC):
In Chavin culture, burial rituals held similarities to the ancient Egyptian form of mummification. However in this case, the body was dried after the organs were removed, then buried in ground wrapped in cloth embroidered with gods, demons or animals.
CHINA (210 BC): Emperor Qin Shi Huang is buried with 6,000 statues of Terracotta warriors and 40,000 real bronze weapons to protect from evil spirits.
CHINA (50 BC): Normal people were buried with figurines that portrayed mythical beasts, dancers, everyday objects, or scenes such a farms or houses.
ITALY (300 AD): Roman underground catacombs: Placed in the graves were paintings, statues, and ornaments. Inscriptions indicated how loving the deceased was, social rank or job title.
ENGLAND (750 AD): England has one of the earliest examples of Christian burial. These are the rock-cut graves of Heysham. Six body-shaped graves are cut into sandstone which were reserved for the privileged only.