Ancestry Magazine

Tombstone inscriptions have been a source of genealogical information for centuries. But modern technology has changed the way tombstones memorialize the dead. Gone are the days of name and dates chiseled laboriously by hand. Now, laser sculpting can create personalized tombstones that memorialize the interests of the deceased–including anything from marble motorcycles to granite garden tools. Lasers can etch images and photographs on a tombstone or carve information about the deceased into the stone.

Digital technology is even being incorporated directly into tombstones. Digital storage devices can be secured to stones for the download of stored data onto a suitable computing device (see <www.memorymedallion.com/default.asp>). Never before have there been so many options to record unique data about an individual on a gravestone.

But with all these options, there is a counter-trend occurring in the burial practices of Western nations. Ecologically low-impact, “green” or “natural” burials are becoming popular. Such burials do not include commemorative markers built to last centuries. If this trend gains in popularity, future generations of genealogists may lose a traditional source of information that is now taken for granted.

Inscriptions on a permanent grave marker are often the only source of information about an ancestor if other record sources fail us. Will our great-great-grandchildren have this record source available to them?

Green burials are not the only threat to the loss of genealogically-relevant tombstones. Other options for the disposal of last remains seem to be limited only by the scope of the entrepreneurial imagination. None of these options include the same sort of “permanent” information storage provided by a traditional headstone. And because they represent a threat to the ongoing tradit ion of providing gravemarkers with interments, all of these alternative burial customs will have an impact on how genealogy will be done in the future.

The rationale behind these burial alternatives, and some of their more unusual approaches to handling remains, is important to understand. With it, we can better understand the threat they pose to one of our traditional genealogy record sources.

Pushing Up Daisies
Burials at sea have been a tradition for millennia–first inspired by the health issues of keeping a corpse in the confined space of a ship at sea. Besides burials at sea, the scattering of ashes on both land and sea has developed in tandem with the cremation movement of the past two centuries. These have been traditional methods of disposing of cremated remains in an unmarked location with no corresponding memorial marker. Green burials are being promoted today and are similar to burial at sea and the scattering of cremains in their resulting lack of gravemarkers. The “why” behind the green burial phenomenon gives an insight into its popularity.

Some ecologists look at a modern cemetery and see only a large landfill containing mostly embalming fluid chemicals and cement. Some statistics from a recent MSNBC article on green burials (see <www.msnbc.com/news/ 827412.asp>) give a list of what is buried in U.S. cemeteries each year:

• More than 820,000 gallons of embalming fluid

• More than 1.6 million tons of reinforced concrete

• More than 90,000 tons of steel

• More than 2,000 tons of copper and bronze

• More than 30 million board feet of hardwoods

That’s a lot of stuff. Along with many other areas of our consumer culture, the material excesses of our burial customs are being questioned in relation to their impact on the environment.

Natural or ecologically friendly burials are designed to minimize the impact o n nature. Locations are typically nature preserves without the manicured expanses of lawn we have in modern cemeteries. These preserves are maintained as much as possible in their natural state to facilitate wildlife habitat. Burials are typically in cardboard or simple pine coffins or urns. Location markers for the burial are either discouraged entirely or kept minimal. With the low level of maintenance required and the reduced cost of containers, green burials tend to be less expensive than their traditional counterparts.

The benefits of green burial are attractive. They are less expensive for the bereaved, less impactful on the environment, and are a new source of revenue for nature preserves.

But how will memorial information on the deceased be available in 200 years? In what format? Where will it be stored? Will the information survive the ravages of time?

Making an Ash of Yourself
Green burials are not the only threat to the continued use of tombstones. Schemes to uniquely dispose of the dead abound. Another “eco-friendly” interment offering is Eternal Reef (see <www.eternalreefs.com>), which combines burial at sea with the creation of artificial reefs for sea life. Cremains are mixed with concrete and then cast into artificial reef forms. These reef forms are then lowered into the sea and come to rest on existing reefs to help promote the reef’s development as home to sea life. Memorial plaques lowered with the reefs are optional.

Not to be outdone by oceanographers, the gemologists have devised a means of incorporating carbon from the deceased into artificial diamonds. LifeGem at <www.lifegem.com> will extract carbon from cremains and create an artificial diamond with the results. But while the diamond might last forever, there is no corresponding guarantee that the genealogically-relevant memorial data for your new family jewels will be available in a few centuries.

Having one’s crem ated remains blasted into space has been available for some years now. In fact, some of these space columbaria have already had their orbits decay and have burned up upon re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere. Celestis (see <www.celestis.com>) has a variety of plans to fit any budget. Boot Hill on the Final Frontier appears to be a bit expensive. Personalized messages accompany the cremains. Of course, these messages burn up in re-entry as well–not the most permanent memorial marker. Hopefully, the local newspaper ran a genealogically-useful orbituary.

Dead Reckoning
Memorial inscriptions have been part of genealogical resources for centuries. But current trends in burial customs are threatening this ongoing tradition of permanent grave makers.

Genealogists would be wise to help plan for the future of this record source by understanding burial alternatives and encouraging other forms of permanent memorials for those of our family members who choose such alternatives. As a community, we must lobby the providers of these alternative burial services to preserve their private interment records in an appropriate publicly-accessible and preservation-minded depository. a

Mark Howells wants his cremains scattered on the crater of Mt. Saint Helens (with a suitable memorial marker elsewhere) so that he may someday travel the world courtesy of a volcanic eruption. In the meantime, he can be found at markhow@oz.net.