Dust In the Wind

    I was recently talking with one of my friends about national parks, as she is a geography major, specifically Stanley Park in Vancouver.  As a research project, she was looking into regulations and other notable related topics related to this.  She commented that her great-grandfather and grandfather's ashes had both been scattered in the park, at different times, and that she would like hers to be as well, even though she and her family knew before the scattering that it was illegal.

     I found this quite intriguing; I had never considered that it might be illegal or regulated where you could scatter the ashes of the dead.  I tend to think of it as just grey dust, because these days they actually grind up the leftover bits after the cremation, so that it doesn't resemble anything remotely human.  Human remains, even after being cremated, and burnt to a fine ash, are classified as biohazards, ie. dangerous to living humans.  After doing a little research, I stumbled upon the Vancouver Park Board website: http://vancouver.ca/parks/info/index.htm . 

    In other provinces, such as Ontario - http://www.sse.gov.on.ca/mcs/en/Pages/Cemetaries_and_Funerals_Scattering_Remains.aspx - have different laws and by-laws surrounding the disposal of human cremated remains.  In general, scattering of the remains in parks and other such unoccupied land is permitted, as long as it is done in an "environmentally responsible manner".

    Reading about these different laws, laws that I had never considered present or even necessary, makes me wonder if these laws are in place in other countries, or if in countries where cremation is more prominent whether it is more acceptable to spread the remains where you like. 

    We spread ashes in places that hold a special meaning for the dead, or ourselves.  Some culture spread them in places of religious significance.  So, in the days of our early ancestors, where we know cremation was taking place, would they have had special rules to follow concerning the treatment of the cremated dead?  If yes, how can we recognize if remains found were placed in a significant or special place, or just happened to be buried where all the other remains were buried (such as a cemetery).  In the story of the funeral of a Rus that we read in class, we know about the cremation taking place, but for archaeologists digging today there would be little to no evidence remaining to be found.  So it is hard to speculate on whether people before us would have had similar customs and regulations, based upon the little evidence we have.  Unless some new groundbreaking site or technology is found/developed, we will have to continue speculating.