The History of Cremation Urns

 Cremation urns have been used by many civilizations for honoring their dead for centuries now. After death the bodies are cremated and the ashes are collected and put in an urn. According to different research works carried out in different corners of the world to study the role of cremation, its existence, and the various cultural and religious practices for cremation and so on, it has been found that cremation urns have got a significant role in different cultures across the world, how they were formed how they looked at the afterlife and how they came to be what they are today or how they perished.

 

The history of urns can be traced back to many thousands of years and it shouldn’t come as a surprise since many old cultures and tribes still practice cremation till this date without having any knowledge of how the world has evolved and modernized having been isolated from the general population for centuries.

The oldest evidence of deceased's ashes being collected into urns was found in China where pottery urns that were about 9000 years old have been found in an early Jiahu site. Other early finds are in Laoguantai, Shaanxi, also a province in China. There are urns unearthed over the Yangshao (5000–3000 BC) areas. The burial urns were used mainly for children and sporadically for adults.

 

During the Bronze Age evidences of cremation was found in North America, the British Isles and in what is now called Spain and Portugal. Archaeologists have found elaborated pottery urns in western Russia among the Slavic population. Cremation cemeteries developed in Hungary and northern Italy, spreading to northern Europe and even Ireland.

 

So as evidence suggests, the cremation culture was present pretty much all over the world since pre-historic times and looking at the way things are right now cremation urns are here to stay.