Methods of Body Disposition and Funeral Practices

Note on Costs: Expect additional charges for the "opening and closing" of a grave or crypt, which are separate from the initial purchase of the plot or space.

Perpetual Care

To ensure that a cemetery remains maintained for future generations, many institutions assess a perpetual care fee. This is an endowment used to subsidize the ongoing upkeep of the grounds, such as landscaping and monument maintenance. In some cases, this fee is bundled into the initial burial cost, while in others, it is an additional assessment.

Entombment: Mausoleums and Crypts

For those seeking alternatives to underground burial, entombment offers a way to preserve remains in aboveground structures.

• Mausoleum: An aboveground structure made of concrete, marble, or stone designed to house one or more bodies.
• Crypt: Historically, a crypt was a subterranean chamber beneath a church floor. In modern usage, it refers to the individual space within a mausoleum where a body is entombed.

Pricing for entombment can vary wildly based on location and prestige. While the average cost for a crypt might be around $4,000, high-end locations can reach much higher; for example, certain invitation-only crypts in Los Angeles have been known to start at $50,000. Generally, the most expensive crypts are located at eye level, while the top and bottom rows are more affordable.

Cremation and Modern Alternatives

Cremation has seen a massive surge in popularity in the United States, rising from a 5% preference in the 1970s to 50% in 2016.

The Cremation Process

Cremation uses intense heat—typically between 2000 and 2500 degrees Fahrenheit—to reduce organic matter to a mineralized skeleton through dehydration and oxidation.

1. The Retort: The body is placed in a specialized container called a retort, which uses natural gas (the most common fuel in the U.S.) or electricity to facilitate the process.
2. The Cremulator: Once the body is reduced to bone fragments, it is processed in a cremulator. This machine reduces the fragments into a fine, granular state.

Clarification on "Ashes": Although commonly called "ashes," the remains are actually very small pieces of bone. They typically resemble coarse coral sand rather than the powdery ash produced by wood or paper.

Green Disposition Technologies

As environmental concerns grow, new "green" methods have emerged that provide alternatives to traditional fire cremation:

• Resomation (Alkaline Hydrolysis): A chemical process that uses a liquid solution to reduce a body to bone fragments in a timeframe similar to fire cremation.
• Cryomation: A process involving liquid nitrogen that freezes the body into brittle particles, which are then pulverized into a fine powder.

Final Placement of Cremated Remains

Once cremation or resomation is complete, the remains can be handled in various ways:

• Columbarium Niche: A small compartment in a wall specifically designed to hold an urn.
• Urn Gardens or Scattering: Remains may be placed in an urn garden, kept by the family, or scattered at sea or on land, subject to local laws.
• Haka: In Japanese cemeteries, small family mausolea called haka can hold a dozen crematory urns.