Fire and Bone: An Experimental Study of Cremation

Many bone fragments have been burned in controlled laboratory conditions but few have been burned on outdoor pyres. In order to study and understand cremated bone, it is crucial to conduct experiments in real environmental conditions. In this study several cremations were carried out outdoors using ‘old’ fuels. Different animal bones and fleshed joints were burned, including lamb, pig, cow, chicken and fish. Experiments show that very high temperatures (above 900ºC) can be achieved in outdoor conditions but that it is difficult to reach full calcination of bone on small pyres: some parts are white (calcined) while others remain black (charred). Results indicate that, as expected, bone structure changes drastically after cremation, and, more importantly, that bone exchanges large amounts of carbon with its surrounding environment: after burning with manufactured coal, a modern lamb bone was radiocarbon dated to an age of 4,000 years