Cremation is the process of burning the human corpse until only some bone fragments and ashes remain, material often described in American English by the neologism cremains.
It is typically associated with a belief in the liberation of the spirit, while burial is often tied to beliefs about the afterlife.
Ancient origin of cremation is reflected in archeological findings from the New Stone Age of some 8000 years ago in China and 6000 years ago in Britain as well as in ancient Greece where they pass into Bronze Age and Iron Age practice only to be replaced by burial by about the 5th century BC.
Cremation uses heat to dispose of the corpse of the dead. In some cultures and religious traditions, this is achieved by placing the body on a pyre and setting fire on it.
In contemporary western society, cremation uses technology to burn the body in a furnace powered by gas or electricity and takes place in a building designed for the purpose – a crematorium.
Cremation for the death
