Disposal of human corpses
Disposal of human corpses, also called final disposition, is the practice and process of dealing with the remains of a deceased human being. Disposal methods may need to account for the fact that soft tissue will decompose relatively rapidly, while the skeleton will remain intact for thousands of years under certain conditions.
Takabuti, an Egyptian mummy from the 7th century BC
Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose shortly after death. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. Some organisms, such as Turritopsis dohrnii, are biologically immortal, however they can still die from means other than aging. Death is generally applied to whole organisms; the equivalent for individual components of an organism, such as cells or tissues, is necrosis. Something that is not considered an organism, such as a virus, can be physically destroyed but is not said to die, as a virus is not considered alive in the first place.
The human skull is used universally as a symbol of death.
A flower, a skull, and an hourglass stand for life, death, and time in this 17th-century painting by Philippe de Champaigne.
French – 16th-/17th-century ivory pendant, Monk and Death, recalling mortality and the certainty of death (Walters Art Museum)
The Premature Burial, Antoine Wiertz's painting of a man buried alive, 1854