This would be separate from normal composting, of course. But the big hurdle is that the people looking into have a more specific target than "get the body to decay usefully;" they want the process to be complete after one year, so as to create a structured mourning process around it. (I can't remember whether "completion" is defined as skeletonizing the remains so you can do a secondary burial of something recognizably human, or complete breakdown. I think the former?) They also want to set things up such that the field doesn't reek of rotting corpses, since, y'know, this won't be a very appealing option to the general public if the whole thing smells like a charnel house. Figuring out the optimal depth and composition of the surrounding material and so forth requires a fair bit of experimentation, especially when you consider that local climate conditions will affect the process.
She also goes into open-air pyres in the U.S., industrial crematories and mourning temples in Japan, a thing in Spain where you can sit with the corpse for as long as you like but there's always glass between you and them, something in Southeast Asia (I can't recall the exact location) where they keep the skulls of the deceased and bring them out once a year for ceremonies -- a whole gamut of possibilities for how we relate to the dead. Doughty's overall conclusion is that most of 'em have their merits and demerits, and the only one she thinks is failing to really serve people's emotional needs at all is the modern U.S. funeral industry.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2023-02-22 09:13 pm (UTC)She also goes into open-air pyres in the U.S., industrial crematories and mourning temples in Japan, a thing in Spain where you can sit with the corpse for as long as you like but there's always glass between you and them, something in Southeast Asia (I can't recall the exact location) where they keep the skulls of the deceased and bring them out once a year for ceremonies -- a whole gamut of possibilities for how we relate to the dead. Doughty's overall conclusion is that most of 'em have their merits and demerits, and the only one she thinks is failing to really serve people's emotional needs at all is the modern U.S. funeral industry.