I’ve been trying to plan ahead (hopefully far ahead) for my eventual demise so the burden won’t fall to my kids. Researching cremation led to this site, which claims that the “ashes” of a loved one are not ashes at all but the pulverized bones left after the cremation process. The crematorium owner cited in the article says
How can there be NO ashes–that is, no desiccated particulate matter–left after cremation? I can see how it might be a very small amount, but none?
And on a related but even more morbid note, what did crematoriums do with bones before the pulverization machines came along? Or has there always been a way to pulverize bones? I don’t know when “Jack and the Beanstalk” originated, but the giant threatens to “grind his bones to make my bread.”
Not sure, but the Giant might have been talking about grinding bones with a mill stone type implement at a Grist mill. They’ve been around, I guess, forever.
Cremation doesn’t leave behind whole bones but small chunks. (See the trayfull in the middle of this article.) And it hasn’t been done that long in the modern West and other parts of the world largely aren’t as squeamish about death as we are. (In Japan, for example, the family picks bones out of the ashes themselves.)
My family does cremation and somehow or other I’ve wound up the Keeper of the Remains, so, based on what I have here at home…
The remains of a human cremation remind me of nothing so much as powdered concrete. It’s much, much hotter than a campfire or charcoal grill. It’s not ashes like you’d get from a wood fire, it’s grey dust.
In the case of my late spouse it was a pile of grey dust and a 14 inch long titanium rod that had served him in place of lower legs bones in his right leg. That survived, too. I have occasionally had people ask me how I could be sure that box of “ashes” was my loved one. In that case, well, damn few people have that much metal in them so yeah, pretty sure on that one. I’d asked for all the metal bits to be returned to me along with the “cremains” and they were.
Which reminds me - they did ask before the cremation about medical implants and the like. Some things don’t matter, some have to be removed before the cremation so be sure that either the person who’d be acting on your behalf knows about anything like that, or that you include a list in your end-of-line and “final arrangement” planning.
Since you asked a morbid question… before there were “bone grinders” there were things like sledgehammers - burned bones fragment quite easily. Some cultures didn’t bother, they were OK with the remaining bones.
I attended the cremation of my grandmother in Japan a couple of years ago. The remains were much more recognizable than in that photo. None of the bones were completely intact, but there were fragments up to a couple of inches long. And everything was undisturbed (i.e. all pieces in its original place). There were clearly recognizable features like the jaw bone, balls of the femurs, etc.
In the West, you never seen cremains in this state. It’s ground up before the family sees it.
By the way, this is why it’s a huge taboo in Japan to pass something from chopstics to chopstics. You only do that with cremains.
I can’t find the thread where this was discussed in detail, but in a nushell (BTW, I used to work a mortuary):
The bones must be ground in a special grinder. Think large metal Cuisinart.
Most of the bones crumble when swept out of the crematory, but the top of the skull usually maintains its shape.
There are some ashes, but the bulk of the remains are still fairly large, up to ~1/4" or so and some remain hard and fairly heavy. Youtube has videos of people scattering cremains and you’ll see that most of it falls straight down and doesn’t blow in the wind like in the movies.
Not sure which religious belief calls for the picking of bones, but I know that some Vietnamese do this as well as other Asians.
Again, not sure what religious belief this is, but some Asians (I know some Chinese and Vietnamese do this) will put bags of clothing and other items the deceased may need in the
afterlife into the crematory with the body.
Pacemakers and other things with batteries in them are removed because the batteries will explode when burned
The closest analog I can think of is the bottom of a bag crushed oyster shells. There are various sizes from ~1/4" to dust, but even the dust has weight and substance to it.
Yeah, I noticed the discrepency between the first article and the description of long bones remaining in the second. I wonder if Western crematoria burn the bodies hotter/longer?
(The idea of the acceptance of cremation in various customs (and the grinding of bones, for bread or otherwise) made me wonder about the Jewish perspective in light of the concept of a luz bone. Of course googling the subject turned up a dope for that.)
The bones generally retain their shape until touched, moved. Those shown in the pan where swept there and broke apart as they were swept.
The same thing happens with sun bleached bones on the beach or desert. They may retain their shape until touched or moved then fall apart. Dried/cremated bones are mostly just calcium phosphate and really brittle. Getting back to oyster shells as a analog. An oyster shell is really hard when still wet. But dry it out and it becomes brittle and easy to crush.
This is really sad, but the only time I’ve ever seen “ashes” is when an unborn baby with the amniotic sac is cremated. All that’s left is less than a teaspoon of red ash, which I was told is because of the high iron content of the amniotic fluid. Fortunately, I’ve never had to pick up a child or baby (nor have ever seen on in the morgue, thank goodness), but a couple of times my friend and I picked up an embryo in a plastic tub from the hospital.
A bit of trivia. While the actual cremation process only takes a few hours, it takes much longer for the retort to cool down. My friend was in charge of the cremations and could do three a day if necessary, though generally it would be one at start of work in the morning and one just before leaving in the evening.
While it was always respected and allowed if the family requested to be able to pick the remains, the retort had to be completely cool (adding more hours to the cooldown) before allowing anyone to pick the remains. I’m assuming the ones in Japan (and other places where this is done) are bigger, but no one was allowed inside the ones at the mortuary I worked at (you’d have to crawl in on your knees). My friend would sweep the cremains toward the front for the family to pick.
I have wondered how often crematoriums cut corners during the burning or bone crushing procedure by say, mixing in the remains of several people to speed up the process and then dividing up the ashes for several customers. To my knowledge, there’s no method to ID ashes.
So that scene in Diamonds Are Forever where they get the urn in about two minutes isn’t 100% accurate? :eek:
From the article lined upthread: Cremation is the kind of business where an error would be catastrophic, unforgiveable, and so Rosehill actually uses two forms of ID to make sure the family gets back the right remains. A copy of the receipt is attached to the outside of the cremation unit, and a metal ID tag, similar to a dog tag, accompanies the deceased inside the unit.
As to pacemakers - My husband had one that had to be removed when he had a heart transplant. He asked the surgeon to give it to him. The surgeon said no but several hours into the procedure one of the resident surgeons came into the waiting room to hand me a plastic Biohazard bag containing the pacemaker. Unfortunately a few years later hubby had to have another pacemaker installed. When he died the pacemaker was removed during autopsy. I did not ask for its return.
As to cremains - I have the ashes or cremains of four family members. All were in clear plastic bags. Some are ground more finely than others. This may depend on the machine used in different crematoriums.
Or how many times they went through the machine. The guy who did my husband’s cremation asked what I intended to do with the ashes, urn/internment or spread them. It seems that for the latter he runs the bits through the grinder twice for a finer and more consistent result.
Unfortunately a few years later hubby had to have another pacemaker installed. When he died the pacemaker was removed during autopsy. I did not ask for its return.