Cremation has a long history dating back to ancient times. It began during the Stone Age in Europe and the Near East around 3000 BC and spread across Northern Europe during the late Stone Age. By the Bronze Age between 2500-1000 BC, cremation had moved into areas like the British Isles, Spain, Portugal, Hungary and northern Italy. It became an important part of Greek burial customs by 1000 BC and was common in Greece and among early Romans by 600 BC, although early Christians preferred earth burial. Cremation largely disappeared in Europe after 400 AD until the modern cremation movement began in the 1870s with developments like the first crematories opening in the late 1800s in England, Germany and the

1. THE HISTORY OF
CREMATION
3000 B.C.
STONE AGE
Ancient cremation probably b egan in a
basic s ens e during the early Stone Age and
most likely in Europe and the Near East.
During the late Stone Age cremation
began to spread across northern Europ e,
as evidenc e d by particularly informative
finds of de c orative pottery urns in
western Russia among the Slavic pe oples.
2500 TO 1000 B.C.
BRONZE AGE
Cremation move d into the British Isles
and into what is now S pain and Portugal.
Cemeteries for cremation develope d in
Hungary and northern Italy, spreading to
northern Europe and even Ireland.
MYCENAEAN AGE
CIRCA 1000 B.C.
Cremation be came an integral part of the
elaborate Gre cian burial custom.
TIME OF HOMER
IN 800 B.C.
It be came the dominant mo de of disp osition
and was enc ourage d for reas ons of
health and expe dient burial of slain
warriorsin this battle-ravage d c ountry.
SOMETIME AROUND
600 B.C.
Following this Gre cian trend, the early
Romans probably embrac e d cremation.
It apparently became s o prevalent that an
official decree had to be issue d in the mid5th Century against the cremation of bodies
within the city.
TIME OF
THE ROMAN EMPIRE
27 B.C. TO 395 A.D.
z
It was widely practic e d, and
cremate d remains were generally
store d in elaborateurns, often within
c olumbarium-like buildings.
Preva lent though the practic e was among the Romans,
cremation was rare with the early Christians who
c onsidered it pagan, and in the Jewish culture where
traditiona l sepulcher entombment was preferred.
BY 400 A.D.
As a result of Constantine's
Chr ist ianizat ion
of the Empire, earth burial had c ompletely
replace d cremation exc ept for rare
instanc es of plague or war. For the next
1,500 years
remaine d the ac c epte d mode of disp osition
throughout Europ e.
MODERN CREMATION AC TUALLY BEGAN ON LY A
LITTLE OVER A CENTURY AG O, AFTER YEARS OF
EXPERIMENTATION INTO THE DEVELOPMENT
OF A DEPENDABLE CHAMBER.
1 8 7 3 A . D.
Profess or Brunetti of Italy p erfe cte d
his mo del and displaye d it at the 1873
Vienna Exp osition; the cremation
movement starte d almost simultane ously
on b oth sides of the Atlantic.
18 7 4 A .D.
In the British Isles, the movement was
fostere d by Que en Victoria's surge on,
Sir Henry Thomps on.
1 874 - 18 7 8 A .D.
Sir Henry and his c olleagues founde d
the Cremation So ciety of England in 1874.
The first crematories in Europ e were built
in 1878 in Woking, England and
Gotha, G ermany.
1 8 7 6 A .D.
Dr. Julius LeMoyne built the first
crematory in Washington, Pennsylvania.
Other forc es b ehind early crematory
op enings were Protestant clergy
who desire d to reform burial practic es,
and the me dical profession c onc erne d
with health c onditions around
early c emeteries.
Crematories sprang up in Buffalo,
New York, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati,
D etroit and Los Angeles.
1 9 0 0 A . D.
There were already 20 crematories
in op eration.
1 9 13 A .D.
Dr. Hugo Erichs en founde d the
Cremation Ass o ciation of America.
There are 52 crematories in North
America. Over 10,000 cremations to ok
plac e in that year.
19 7 5 A .D.
The name was change d from
Cremation Ass o ciation of America
to the Cremation Ass o ciation of
North America.
There were over 425 crematories
and nearly 150,000 cremations.
1 9 9 9 A . D.
There are 1,468 crematories and
595,617 cremations.
25.39% of all deaths
in the Unite d States are cremate d.
By 2009
Over 2,100 crematories and
900,000 cremationst.
36.84% of deaths in the Unite d States
were handle d through cremation.
A p erc entage that is exp e cte d to grow
to over half of deaths by 2018.
TM
Sources
http://science.howstuffworks.com/cremation6.htm
http://www.cremationassociation.org/?HistoryOfCremation
http://sandiegoboattours.com/home/san-diego-burial-at-sea-overview/cremation-history/
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