The communities of Australia’s biggest cities could soon face the prospect of having nowhere to bury their loved ones. Four key changes are needed to avert the crisis.
Promoting and practicing ethical research that includes the people who live in the area today is as important to the archaeological team as learning more about the lives of the ancient inhabitants.
City cemeteries are fast running out of space, so researchers surveyed Australians and found many were quite open to the alternatives to traditional burials.
The former justice received a Jewish funeral at the Supreme Court. But in other ways, Ginsburg’s burial is breaking with traditional Jewish death rituals.
Municipalities are now forced to identify new cemetery planning methods and models that are environmentally sensitive and consistent with diverse cultural practices, and facilitate social cohesion.
From burial sites targeted by grave robbers to disposing of ashes at sea, the job of disposing of the unclaimed dead has a rich history. Sadly, it still goes on today and is on the rise.
In remote Northern Territory, most Aboriginal people have been buried in unmarked graves. Archaelogists are carrying out painstaking detective work to help communities find their loved ones’ remains.
CENIEH Director, Atapuerca Research Team and author of "Homo imperfectus" (Ed. Destino), Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH)