India, Nepal, and Other Hindu Countries – Funeral pyres are an essential part of a Hindu funeral, which is why they are still used today in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Indonesia.Thanks to the work of anthropologists and sociologists, we know the history of funeral pyres in some parts of the world, such as: However, their history is fascinating! Throughout history, funeral pyres have been used all over the world to cremate bodies. Why? Though funeral pyres have a long history and are integral parts of some cultures, they are not common or even legal in most of the modern Western world. But funeral pyres are not the same as cremation services in Oakland, CA. You might have seen a movie or a TV show in which people burn the body of a loved one after they die – this is a funeral pyre. This study also involved a PhD candidate from the Eco-anthropologie laboratory (CNRS/Museum national d’Histoire naturelle) with support from the Centre de recherche français à Jérusalem (CNRS/French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs/Aix-Marseille Université).Funeral pyres are simply a pile of wood on the ground or on a stone base on which a body is burned. 2Member of the Prehistoric ethnology team at the Archéologies et sciences de l'Antiquité laboratory (CNRS/Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne/Université Paris Nanterre/French Ministry of Culture).1The body was cremated directly, as opposed to other practices where dried exhumed bones were burnt.More photographs are available on demand. © mission Beisamoun Flint point thrust inside a burnt shoulder blade © mission Beisamoun Excavations of the pyre pit. A section of the Beisamoun site (Israel) where the pyre pit is visible. The study is based on joint archaeological digs completed between 2007-2016 by the CNRS, the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and the Israel Antiquities Authority. This could be evidence of a transition phase because, some two to three centuries later, the dead were no longer buried inside or near villages and their traces are much more difficult to find. The veneration of ancestors and lengthy funerary practices seem to have given way to shorter rituals. The use of cremation indicates an evolution of the relationship to death in the region. They dated back to the same period as burials whose traces were discovered among the ruins of abandoned dwellings. In addition to the exceptional pyre pit, the cremated remains of five other adults were discovered at the site. Whether used as fuel, as ornamentation, or as a scent, siliceous traces indicated the presence of flowering plants, which made it possible to identify the season the person died. The position of the bones and the preserved joints seem to indicate the body was placed seated onto the pyre and was not moved during or after cremation. An analysis of the clay used to coat the inside of the pit showed the 355 bone fragments, some of which were burnt, were exposed to temperatures reaching 700☌. With aid from PhD candidate Marie Anton and several experts in animal, plant, and mineral remains, discovered and studied the bones found inside the pyre. An international team lead by CNRS archaeo-anthropologist Fanny Bocquentin 2 Preserved due to it being buried, the pit represents the oldest proof of direct 1Ĭremation in the Middle-East. What is known is that the individual was a young adult injured by a flint projectile several months prior to their death in spring some 9,000 years ago. The gender of the human remains found inside a cremation pyre pit in Beisamoun, Israel remains unknown.
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