Death

Death is the cessation of physical life in a living organism or the state of the organism after that event. In almost all societies, death has one or several symbols associated with it. Common symbols of death in Western cultures include the grim reaper and the color black; conversely, in certain Eastern cultures, the color white is considered symbolic of death. The grave is a metonym for death.

Physiological consequences of human death

For the human body, the physiological consequences of death follow a recognized sequence through early changes into bloating, then decay to changes after decay and finally skeletal remains.

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The changes in the immediate post-death stage have received the most attention for two reasons—firstly it is the stage mostly likely to be seen by the living and secondly because of the research of forensics in potential crimes.

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Soon after death (15–120 minutes depending on various factors), the body begins to cool (algor mortis), becomes pallid (pallor mortis), and internal sphincter muscles relax, leading to the release of urine, feces, and stomach contents if the body is moved. The blood moves to pool in the lowest parts of the body, livor mortis (dependent lividity), within 30 minutes and then begins to coagulate. The body experiences muscle stiffening (rigor mortis) which peaks at around 12 hours after death and is gone in another 24, depending on temperature. Within a day, the body starts to show signs of decomposition (decay), both autolytic changes and from 'attacking' organisms—bacteria, fungi, insects, mammalian scavengers, etc. Internally, the body structures begin to collapse, the skin loses integration with the underlying tissues, and bacterial action creates gases which cause bloating and swelling. The rate of decay is enormously variable; a body can be reduced to skeletal remains in days, or remain largely intact for thousands of years.

Related Topics:
Algor mortis - Pallor mortis - Urine - Feces - Stomach - Livor mortis - Rigor mortis - Decomposition - Decay - Autolytic - Bacteria - Fungi - Insect - Mammal

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In most cultures, before the onset of significant decay, the body undergoes ritual disposal, usually either cremated or deposited in a tomb, often a hole in the earth called a grave, but also in a sarcophagus, a crypt, sepulchre, or ossuary, a mound or barrow, or endlessly monumental surface structures, a mausoleum such as the Taj Mahal. In Tibet, one method of corpse disposal is sky burial, which involves placing the body of the deceased in a high ground (mountain) and dispose it ritually ? especially to birds of prey.

Related Topics:
Cremated - Tomb - Grave - Sarcophagus - Crypt - Sepulchre - Ossuary - Mausoleum - Taj Mahal - Tibet - Sky burial - Mountain - Birds

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Sometimes this is because in some religious views, birds of prey are carriers of soul to heaven, but other times, this simply reflect the fact that when terrain (Tibet) makes the ground too hard to dig, there aren't many trees around to burn and the local religion (Buddhism) believes that the body after death is only an empty shell, there are more practical ways of disposing a body, like, for example, leaving it for animals. On the other hand in certain cultures efforts are made to retard the decay processes before burial (resulting even in the retard of decay processes after the burial) , mummification or embalming. This happens during or after a funeral ceremony. Many funeral customs exist in different cultures.

Related Topics:
Prey - Soul - Tibet - Buddhism - Mummification - Embalming - Funeral

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A new alternative is "ecological burial". This involves subsequently deep-freezing, pulverisation by vibration, freeze-drying, removing metals, and burying the resulting powder, which has 30% of the body mass.

Related Topics:
Freeze-drying - Metal

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Graves are usually grouped together in a plot of land called a cemetery or "graveyard" and can be arranged by a funeral home, mortuary , undertaker or by a church.

Related Topics:
Cemetery - Funeral home - Mortuary - Undertaker - Church

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