A pyre (Ancient Greek: πυρά, romanized: purá; from πῦρ (pûr) 'fire'), also known as a funeral pyre, is a structure, usually made of wood, for burning a body as part of a funeral rite or execution. As a form of cremation, a body is placed upon or under the pyre, which is then set on fire. In discussing ancient Greek religion, "pyre" (the normal Greek word for fire anglicized) is also used for the sacred fires at altars, on which parts of the animal sacrifice were burnt as an offering to the deity.
Materials Pyres are crafted using wood. The composition of a pyre may be determined through use of charcoal analysis. Charcoal analysis helps to predict composition of the fuel and local forestry of the charcoal being studied.
Ireland Specifically, in the Bronze Age, pyre materials were gathered based on local abundance and ease of access to the wood although materials were also selected due to the specific properties, potential traditional purpose, or due to economical reasons. In Templenoe, pyres typically consisted of oak and fruit wood compositions.
Poland From analyzing three necropolises in Kokotów, Pawłowice and Korytnica, Polish seemingly pyres consisted of primarily Scots pine, birch, and oak trees, as pines, birch, and oak were dense in local woodlands. All parts of the tree were used including the trunk, branches, twigs, and even pine cones. During World War II, pyres were used in German death camps on Polish territory, such as Treblinka.
Pyre remains in Britain Worked antler and bone objects, along with flint and flake tools, and copper-alloys are most commonly found in pyre cremation remains. The copper-alloys leave a blue-green stain and are typically fused to the ribs, arms, and other areas where jewelry is commonly worn.
Analysis of bone fragment size A study was done on the bone fragments of cremations to show that not only will movement of the bone fragments cause breakage but also environmental factors play a part. After studying cremation remains in urns that had been tightly sealed and had no evidence of environmental disturbance it was found that on average bigger bone fragment sizes were observed meaning less bone breakage had occurred. It was concluded that if cremated bone is placed in an urn before burial the original bone fragment size will be preserved. This study was intended to explain that more cautionary measures should be taken during and after any cremation occurs and to educate those who are studying cremated bone that the size of the fragments will be smaller than there were right after cremation.
Uses
Traditionally, pyres are used for the cremation of the dead in the Hindu and Sikh religions, a practice which dates back several thousands of years. Funeral pyres were also used in Germanic and Roman culture.
Secular Pyres and bonfires are used in celebrations and remembrance in services. Examples of these are Guy Fawkes Night in the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth countries, where the 'Guy', either seen as an effigy of Guy Fawkes or the Pope, is burned. Funeral pyres were used by the Nazis to cremate the bodies of 1,500,000+ prisoners in Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka extermination camps, in contrast to the crematoria used in other camps. Pyres have also been used to dispose of large quantities of livestock in agriculture, particularly those infected with disease. Pyres are lit around the clock in Varanasi, India as it is considered one of the oldest standing cities. Hindus believe that by resting the ashes of the dead in the Ganges river in at Varanasi, the dead will achieve moksha. Hindus will travel great lengths in order to perform ritualistic duties such as praying, attending to their dead, or to die.
Sati practice in Nepal & India Some Hindu groups practiced Sati (also known as suttee). Sati is the act of volunteered self immolation of a widow of the deceased husband with his corpse or remains. This involves volunteering oneself (and generally being in state of samadhi) to be burnt alive on the pyre with the remains of her husband for higher state of life.
Environmental impacts of pyres
Environmental impact in Southern Asia
Chakrabarty RK, et al. examined the environmental effects of Southern Asia's funeral pyres in their study, "Funeral pyres in South Asia: Brown carbon aerosol emissions and climate impacts". The heating of the atmosphere from carbonaceous aerosols resulting from human activities is a significant contributor to climate change in South Asia. In this region, fossil fuel use and residential biofuels have been documented to be the primary emitter of light-absorbing black carbon aerosols. The study determined the emitted organic carbon contributed 40% to smoke absorption of visible solar radiation, about 92 Gg annually. A second study examined the carbonaceous fractions associated with indoor PM2.5/PM10 during Asian cultural and ritual burning practices. (Dewangan, et al.) This study concluded drastically higher levels of biomass burning markers within burial rituals performed indoors compared to levels collected for residential indoors and ambient outdoors, with levels reaching three- to eightfold higher levels of carbonaceous aerosols. These high chemical levels were also found to correlate to higher aerosol fraction levels during winter months in both Muslim Holy Shrines and marriage places. The study concluded PM concentrations were significantly higher in indoor-ritual locations and suggested further studies and actions be taken to investigate risk and health assessment and calls for regulatory agencies to propose new guidelines for indoor cultural/ritual locations.
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