How Did Cremation Emerge as a Death Ritual

Cremation is one of the most common forms of death rituals. For eastern cultures, including Indo-Aryan derived groups, cremation has long been practice for the departed. More recently, cremation has also emerged as a way to conserve space and was used to prevent the spread of disease in crowded countries such as in the UK. There are both scientific and spiritual reasons for its emergence.

Origin of Cremation

The first evidence of cremation emerges at least 20,000 years ago in Australia, although very likely it is even older than that and occurred somewhere in Africa or Asia. It is not clear why cremation first emerged but it could either be due to emerging ritualistic practice or even the removal of bodies from a community so as to avoid the spread of disease. In fact, both reasons could be true.

By the Neolithic period about 10,000 years ago, cremation was more widespread in Europe and the Near East. It seems for some time, both practices were used, sometimes together in the same community, suggesting that one form of burial practice may have not become over dominant or the only accepted form of burial. This began to change by the Chalcolithic period at about 7000-6000 years ago. By then, emerging patterns suggest that cremation could have been more specific to given cultural groups. Semitic populations in the Near East, for instance, strictly avoided cremation, where their religious practice prohibited it and suggested it would have adverse effect either in the afterlife or for the living by haunting those who committed the practice. These prohibitions in the Semitic and Afro-Semitic populations, such as in Palestine, ancient Mesopotamia, and Egypt, continued through historical periods.

Cremation emerges as common phenomenon in the Bronze Age (about 5000-4000 years ago) in Europe and South Asia. In central and northern Europe, cultures from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age (about 3000 years ago) appear to switch at times from burial to cremation. This could be because of changing cultures due to invasions and migrations that occurred. The Myceneans generally preferred inhumation, while later Greeks did practice cremation, likely influenced by Anatlian cultures that also were influenced by Iranian and Indian cultures (i.e., the Indo-Aryan migrations that occurred in the 2nd millennium BCE).

The longest, continual practice of cremation does appear to be in the Indian sub-continent, where early Indus cultures and later ancient India societies continued to bury their dead even before the full emergence of Hinduism and Buddhism. Ancient China and Japan appeared to have buried their dead, although this practice would later change.

Later Use

Up until the Roman period, cremation was common in Europe. With the rise of Christianity, cremation began to die out as a practice throughout Europe. Judaism had a strong prohibition regarding cremation and this likely influenced Christianity's prohibition that the church adopted. This is also true for Zoroastrians, which originated with Iranian cultures. In their case, bodies were left for birds to eat. Cremation, for Zoroastrians, was seen as corrupting the sacred fire. For Christians, cremation was seen as desecrating the body during the day of resurrection. With the influence of Christianity, cremation largely disappeared after the 1st millennium CE in Europe. Islam also had derived from Semitic origins, which meant it had also prohibited cremation since it was seen as desecrating the body.

Cremation was at times practices in Europe, but usually it was done as a form of punishment. For instance, during the Protestant Reformation period in the 16th century and later, Protestants were sometimes burned or their bodies were ritually burned as a way to prevent them from entering the afterlife. This, in a way, was similar to being burned at the stake, where this punishment was intended to prevent an afterlife as well as act as punishment.

On the other hand, cremation spread in east Asia as Buddhism influenced Han Chinese and Japan. Thus, while cremation began to disappear from Europe and the Middle East, it now spread in East Asia to areas where it was previously prohibited, such as in China.