ASHES are the irreducible dry residue of fire. They may be burnt offerings, such as the cremation of a human body, the sacrificial burning of an animal, or the ritual burning of a plant. Ashes have religious significance as the substance remaining...

Cremation is the usual mode of treating the dead in hot countries, and the Buddha’s body was cremated. The ashes were divided into ten parts, and Stūpas (q.v.) erected over each of them. It is from surviving Stūpas that undoubted relics...

is virtually the only accepted way in Hinduism of disposing of the bodies of deceased persons, described or at least mentioned in even the earliest parts of the Vedas. It is undoubtedly of IE origin. Early archaeological evidence of burials may be...

Cremation is the act of reducing a corpse by burning, generally in a crematorium furnace or crematory fire. Contrary to popular belief, the remains are not ashes, but rather bone fragments which are then crushed in a device called a cremulator. In...

The charred hut and blackened chimney are all that remain of what was one of Israel's best-kept secrets.It was the Jewish state's first and only crematorium. But more than that, it was a symbol. To secular Jews it meant the right to choose one's own...

Dwight Smith and his mother made several trips to Ireland over the years, reveling in the beauty of the Killarney lakes in the southwest corner of the country.When Smith's mother died in August, there was no question she would be cremated _ a request she...

Erika Ortiz, the youngest sister of Spain's Crown Princess Letizia, was to be cremated on Thursday in Madrid, the Royal Palace said, as her sudden death topped the headlines across the country.King Juan Carlos was among those expected to attend a prayer service at a...

Archaeologists in Greece have discovered a rare 2,700-year-old piece of fabric inside a copper urn from a burial they speculated imitated the elaborate cremation of soldiers described in Homer's "Iliad."The yellowed, brittle material was found in the urn during excavation in the southern town of...

This essay has a general backround on cremation as well as primary source statistics from interviews.