Disposal of human corpses is the practice and process of dealing with the remains of a deceased human being. Human corpses present both a sanitation and public health risk. Like most animals, when humans die, their bodies start to decompose, emitting a foul odor and providing a breeding ground for various bacteria. For these reasons, corpses must be disposed of properly. The problem of body disposal has two parts: disposal of the soft tissues, which will rapidly decompose, and of the skeleton, which will remain intact for thousands of years under the right conditions. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Human beings are defined variously in biological, spiritual, and cultural terms, or in combinations thereof. ... For other uses, see Body (disambiguation). ... Decomposition is the reduction of bodies and other formerly living organisms into simpler forms of matter; and most particularly to the fate of the body, after death. ... Phyla Actinobacteria Aquificae Chlamydiae Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi Chloroflexi Chrysiogenetes Cyanobacteria Deferribacteres Deinococcus-Thermus Dictyoglomi Fibrobacteres/Acidobacteria Firmicutes Fusobacteria Gemmatimonadetes Lentisphaerae Nitrospirae Planctomycetes Proteobacteria Spirochaetes Thermodesulfobacteria Thermomicrobia Thermotogae Verrucomicrobia Bacteria (singular: bacterium) are unicellular microorganisms. ...

Common means of disposal

There are many ways that human bodies have been disposed of, in ways that range from reverent to expedient. Practices relating to the disposal of corpses vary widely depending on culture, religion, and jurisdiction. Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning to cultivate), generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. ... In law, jurisdiction (from the Latin ius, iuris meaning law and dicere meaning to speak) is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area...

In most societies, burial of the entire body is the most common method of disposal. Cremation, which burns soft tissue and renders the skeleton to ash, is the second most common. For the musician, see Burial (musician). ... The crematorium at Haycombe Cemetery, Bath, England. ...

Less common methods include:

• Mummification (practiced by the ancient Egyptians)
• Natural predation by jhator (or sky burial) in Tibet or exposure on the Towers of Silence as practiced by the Parsi community
• Burial at sea
• Medical research
• Ritual cannibalism
• A few people, such as the economist Jeremy Bentham, have had their dead bodies stuffed. This is a very rare practice.
• Human remains of archeological or medical interest are often kept in museums and private collections. This practice is controversial, and in the cases of Native American remains is regulated by the NAGPRA Act of 1990.

Different religions and cultures have various funeral rites that accompany the disposal of the body. Some require that all parts of the body are buried together. In the case of an autopsy, removed parts of the body are sewn back into the body so that they may be buried with the rest of the corpse. In the Western World embalming of the body is a standard part of preparation. A mummy is a corpse whose skin and dried flesh have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or airlessness. ... Map of Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt was the civilization of the Nile Valley between about 3000 BC and the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great in 332 BC. As a civilization based on irrigation it is the quintessential example of an hydraulic empire. ... Sky burial is a ritual practice common in Tibet that involves placing the body of the deceased in a high ground (mountain) and expose it ritually, especially to birds of prey. ... Tibet (older spelling Thibet; Tibetan: བོད་; Wylie: Bod; Lhasa dialect IPA: [; Simplified and Traditional Chinese: 西藏, Hanyu Pinyin: XÄ«zàng; also referred to as 藏区 (Simplified Chinese), 藏區 (Traditional Chinese), ZàngqÅ« (Hanyu Pinyin), see Name section below) is a plateau region in Central Asia and the indigenous home to the Tibetan people. ... A late 19th century engraving of a Zoroastrian Tower of Silence in Mumbai. ... A Parsi (Gujarati: PārsÄ«, IPA: ), sometimes spelled Parsee, is a member of the close-knit Zoroastrian community based in the Indian subcontinent. ... Burial at Sea for two victims of a Japanese submarine attack on the US aircraft carrier Liscome Bay, November 1943 Burial at sea describes the procedure of disposing of human remains in the ocean. ... Medical research (or experimental medicine) is basic research and applied research conducted to aid the body of knowledge in the field of medicine. ... This article is about consuming ones own species. ... Jeremy Bentham (IPA: or ) (February 15, 1748 O.S. (February 26, 1748 N.S.) – June 6, 1832) was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. ... A taxidermied snow leopard. ... Native Americans are the indigenous peoples from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska. ... The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act is a piece of American legislation passed in 1990 requiring that the remains of all Native American peoples be returned to their repective peoples if/when they have been excavated, where the archeological team is allowed a short time for analysis before... Post-mortem, postmortem and post mortem redirect here. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Embalming, in most modern cultures, is the art and science of temporarily preserving human remains to forestall decomposition and make it suitable for display at a funeral. ...

In the case of mass disasters, or epidemics, large groups of people have been buried in mass graves or plague pits. Grave in Sarajevo during the siege in 1992-1993. ... Plague pit is the informal term used to refer to the mass graves of the victims of disease epidemics such as the Black Death. ...

Secret disposal

Mass graves have also been used to dispose of the victims of genocide and war crimes. Genocide is the mass killing of a group of people as defined by Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG) as any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or... In the context of war, a war crime is a punishable offense under International Law, for violations of the laws of war by any person or persons, military or civilian. ...

Somebody who is or feels guilty of another person's death (manslaughter, accident), or is afraid of being accused of a crime in relation with the death may try to dispose of the body in such a way that finding it is more difficult or impossible, to delay people finding out about the death, to conceal the identity of the deceased, and to avoid autopsy. Even without guilt of death it may be kept secret, e.g. to collect the pension of the victim, or (at least in some fiction) children may not want the death to be found out, because they want to avoid getting a new legal guardian. A railing accidentally collapses at a college football game, spilling fans onto the sidelines An accident is something going wrong unexpectedly. ... Post-mortem, postmortem and post mortem redirect here. ...

The victim falls in the category missing persons as long as a body is not found, unless death is so likely that the person is declared "legally dead". A missing person is a person who has disappeared for no known reason. ...

The most common is burying the body in a shallow grave. Other methods are leaving the body in a deserted place or a private place, such as one's freezer, dumping it in a body of water, dissolving it with corrosive chemicals, hiding it in cement or concrete, and burning it. Sometimes the body is cut into pieces (e.g. dismemberment) to facilitate disposal; it also enables disposal of each piece separately. A freezer is a home appliance, usually found above the refrigerator that keeps foods frozen. ... Dismemberment is the act of cutting, tearing, pulling, wrenching or otherwise removing, the limbs of a living thing. ...

The mafia have been known to have the bodies chopped up (i.e. dismembered) then put in the trunk of the person's car. The car is then taken to a mafia-affiliated junkyard and the body crushed, leaving no trace and the car is gone so a murder investigation is never even started.

Legal regulation

Many jurisdictions have enacted regulations relating to the disposal of human bodies. Although it may be entirely legal to bury a deceased family member, the law may restrict the locations in which this activity is allowed, in some cases expressly limiting burials to property controlled by specific, licensed institutions. Furthermore, in many places, failure to properly dispose of a body is a crime. In some places, it is also a crime to fail to report a death, and to report the disposition of the body.

Special cases

When it is not possible for a body to be disposed of promptly, it is generally stored at a morgue. Where this is not possible, such as at a battlefield, body bags are used to store corpses. Mortuary, a film directed by Tobe Hooper, see Mortuary (film). ... A body bag is a non-porous bag designed to contain a human body, used for the storage and transport of corpses. ...

When parts of the body die, such as limbs or internal organs, without the individual dying, as in the case of necrosis, they usually are not given a funeral. In most cases, surgical removal of dead tissue is necessary to prevent gangrenous infection. Surgically removed body parts are typically disposed of as medical waste, unless they need to be preserved for cultural reasons, as described above. Necrosis (in Greek Νεκρός = Death) is the name given to accidental death of cells and living tissue. ... This article contain photographs that you may find disturbing. ... An infection is the detrimental colonization of a host organism by a foreign species. ... Medical waste, also known as clinical waste, refers to biological products which are essentially useless. ...

Where permitted, organ donation may re-use some of the dead person's organs for medical purposes; in this case, the organs may well live on long after the death of their original owner. Organ donation is the removal of specific tissues of the human body from a person who has recently died, or from a living donor, for the purpose of transplanting or grafting them into other persons. ...

Attitudes towards stillborn fetuses have changed in recent years; in the past they were often disposed of as clinical waste, but are now commonly given funerals. The expected result of pregnancy is the birth of a living child. ...

See also

• Animal body disposal
• Cemetery
• Eco-cemetery