im going to delete it soon, ive merged all death blogging onto my main, which is beautifulhorsemeat.tumblr.com so go there if you want. thanks to all who stuck with us this far

malformalady:

A child’s grave surrounded by pink roses

• c. 620 BC: Draco, Athenian law-maker, was smothered to death by gifts of cloaks showered upon him by appreciative citizens at a theatre on Aegina.
• 6th century BC: Legend says Greek wrestler Milo of Croton came upon a tree-trunk split with wedges. Testing his strength, he tried to rend it with his bare hands. The wedges fell, trapping his hands in the tree and making him unable to defend himself from attacking wolves, which devoured him.
• 401 BC: Mithridates, a soldier condemned for the murder of Cyrus the Younger, was executed by scaphism, surviving the insect torture for 17 days.
• 272 BC: According to Plutarch, Pyrrhus of Epirus, conqueror and the source of the term Pyrrhic victory, died while fighting an urban battle in Argos when an old woman threw a roof tile at him, stunning him and allowing an Argive soldier to kill him.
• 270 BC: Philitas of Cos, Greek intellectual, is said by Athenaeus to have studied arguments and erroneous word usage so intensely that he wasted away and starved to death. Alan Cameron speculates that Philitas died from a wasting disease which his contemporaries joked was caused by his pedantry.
• 207 BC: Chrysippus, a Greek stoic philosopher, is believed to have died of laughter after giving his donkey wine then seeing it attempt to eat figs.
• 162 BC: Eleazar Maccabeus was crushed to death at the Battle of Beth-zechariah by a war elephant that he believed to be carrying Seleucid King Antiochus V. Charging into battle, Eleazar rushed underneath the elephant and thrust a spear into its belly, whereupon it fell dead on top of him.
• 4 BC: Herod the Great reportedly suffered from fever, intense rashes, colon pains, foot drop, inflammation of the abdomen, a putrefaction of his genitals that produced worms, convulsions, and difficulty breathing before he finally expired.
• 64 – 67: Saint Peter was executed by the Romans. According to tradition, he asked not to be crucified in the normal way, but was instead executed on an inverted cross. According to Origen of Alexandria, he said he was not worthy to be crucified in the same way as Jesus.
• c. 98: Saint Antipas, Bishop of Pergamum, was roasted to death in a brazen bull during the persecutions of Emperor Domitian. Saint Eustace, his wife and children supposedly suffered a similar fate under Hadrian.
• c. 1st or 2nd century: Rabbi Akiva, a Tanna, a founder of Rabbinic Judaism, and a supporter of Bar Kokhba, was put to death by the Romans by having his skin flayed with iron combs.
• 212: Lucius Fabius Cilo, a Roman senator of the 2nd century, “…choked…by a single hair in a draught of milk”.
• 258: According to tradition, Saint Lawrence of Rome was roasted alive on a giant grill, during the persecution of Valerian.
• 336: Arius, presbyter of Alexandria, is said to have died of sudden diarrhea followed by copious hemorrhaging and anal expulsion of the intestines while he walked across the imperial forum in Constantinople. He may have been poisoned.
• 415: Hypatia of Alexandria, Greek mathematician, philosopher and last librarian of the Library of Alexandria, was murdered by a Christian mob that ripped off her skin with sharp sea-shells. Various types of shells have been named, including clams, oysters and abalones. Other sources claim tiles or pottery shards were used.
• 762: Li Po (Li Bai), Chinese poet and courtier, supposedly tried to kiss the reflection of the Moon beside the boat in which he was travelling, fell overboard and drowned.

Pia Interlandi is a Melbourne fashion designer who creates unique Garments For The Grave; beautiful outfits to be buried in. Her designs are tailored from fabrics that fuse with the body over time through the natural process of decay. In addition to fashion design, Pia’s practice incorporates dressing the body and guiding loved ones through the death process. She is a licensed funeral celebrant and PhD candidate. Her garments are fully customizable: the wearer may choose to dye, embroider with poetry or lyrics, print images, stitch in pockets for letters or mementos, or to leave it very clean. Pia’s work is part of a new wave of funeral customs in Australia and around the world, which seek a personalized experience of death in honouring of life; as well as the emerging “Natural earth burial” movement, which places the body in closer context with nature. -the daily undertaker

[click through on the pictures so see more of pias work]

(Source: piainterlandi.com)

criminalprofiler:

Body Farm Research Facilities

The first body farm (officially known as the University of Tennessee Forensic Anthropology Facility) was opened by Dr. William Bass in 1971. Bass recognized the need for research into human decomposition after police repeatedly asked for his help analyzing bodies in criminal cases. What started as a small area with one body has developed into a 3-acre complex that contains remains of around 40 individuals at any one time. The facility became famous (and gained its moniker) after it inspired Patricia Cornwell’s 1995 novel, “The Body Farm.”

Where do these bodies come from? When Dr. Bass first started the body farm, he used unclaimed bodies from medical examiners’ offices. Later, people started donating their bodies to the facility to help with forensic studies.

There’s no common set of standards or guidelines that body farms adhere to, other than safety, security and privacy. Even the dimensions of the facilities vary. Western Carolina University’s body farm is about 59-feet (18 m) squared and is built to hold about six to 10 bodies at a time, while the body farm at the University of Tennessee holds around 40 bodies and covers nearly 3 acres. And even body farms are bigger in Texas: The facility at University of Texas-San Marcos covers about 5 acres.

Each facility also has a different focus. The Tennessee body farm pursues a broad range of study into decomposition under all conditions — buried, unburied, underwater and even in the trunks of cars. The body farm at Western Carolina places emphasis on decomposition in the mountainous region of the Carolinas. Texas’ body farm also provides region-specific data. Forensic anthropologists from states like New Mexico are waiting on data from Texas so they can comprehensively study decomposition in desert climates.

 Generally, when a facility accepts a body, it’s placed in a refrigerator (not unlike one found in a morgue). The body is then assigned an identifying number and placed in a specific location on the grounds of the body farm. The location of each body is carefully mapped. Students learn how to maintain the chain of evidencewhen working with the bodies. In a criminal case, it’s imperative that anyone coming into contact with human remains logs that he or she handled it. This way, no legal questions can be raised about the integrity of the evidence or possible gaps in its custody.

The bodies are allowed to decompose for various amounts of time. Then students practice locating, collecting and removing the remains from the area. The remains are taken to a laboratory and further analyzed. When analysis is finished, the skeleton may be returned to the family of the deceased for burial, if requested. Otherwise, it will likely remain in the department’s collection of skeletons. U of T-Knoxville boasts a collection of skeletal remains from more than 700 people.

Body farms may or may not cover the bodies with wire cages. Doing so prevents coyotes in Texas from making off with body parts, but security fencing at the much smaller Western Carolina facility is sufficient.

(via astraloctopode)

A memento mori rosary bead.

(via omnitas)

Sandstone vestige of a Jewish gravestone depicting a Tzedakah box. Jewish cemetery in Otwock (Karczew-Anielin), Poland.

bandersnutch:

Embalming, in most modern cultures, is the art and science of temporarily preserving human remains (some may preserve for long-term) to forestall decomposition and to make them suitable for public display at a funeral. The three goals of embalming are thus sanitization, presentation and preservation (or restoration) of a corpse to achieve this effect. Embalming has a very long and cross-cultural history, with many cultures giving the embalming processes a greater religious meaning.

[various early 20th-century embalming fluids]

(Source: nokkerosor)

A wake is a ceremony associated with death. Traditionally, a wake takes place in the house of the deceased, with the body present; however, modern wakes are often performed at a funeral home. In the United States and Canada it is synonymous with a viewing. It is often a social rite which highlights the idea that the loss is one of a social group and affects that group as a whole.

The English word “wake” originated from the ancient Indo-European root “*wog” or “*weg,” meaning “to be active.” This evolved into several meanings, including “growth” (“vegetable”), “to become or stay alert,” and “watching or guarding.” The third also evolved into the word “watch,” and it is in this sense that people have a “wake” for someone who recently died. While the modern usage of the verb “wake” is “become or stay alert” meaning, a “wake” for the dead harks back to the antiquated “watch” or “guard” sense. This is contrary to the urban legend that people at a wake are waiting in case the deceased should “wake up.”

In 1752 Richard Pococke observed a wake in County Down: “I saw a number of women in an adjacent cabin, and my curiosity led me to go in, it was a wake over the body of an old man, who was stretched on the floor and covered with a sheet. About 3 feet above the corpse was a board covered with a white cloth, on which they place candles; and the women sit round the corpse, they are entertained with a spirit of Barley, call’d Whiskey, with Tobacco and sometimes with bread, cake, &c, and frequently drink to excess with such instances of mortality before their eyes, and this they look on as an act of Devotion.”

[museum display of a wake set up]

(Source: nokkerosor)

bandersnutch:

absolutely stunning himba grave site in namibia

[source: deformutilations bogspot]

(Source: nokkerosor)

Medieval and Renaissance wall tombs in Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice, including an equestrian statue at the left.

malformalady:

Advertising for an Orthodox cemetery

ramirezdahmerbundy:

The 21 Steps of an Autopsy

• The dead body arrives at the morgue.

• The body’s identity is confirmed, assigned an identification number, and given a toe tag, which is a cardboard ticket with all of the corpse’s pertinent information written on it. This tag is tied to the big toe.

• The body is photographed from head to toe, front and back, in the clothing it was wearing when it arrived at the morgue.

• The body is photographed from head to toe, front and back, completly naked.

• The body is weighed on a scale, and the weight is recorded. The body is also measured for length, and completely X-rayed.

• The fingerprints of the corpse are taken. In instances in which hands and/or fingers are missing parts are duly noted.

• The clothing the deceased was wearing upon arrival at the morgue is carefully examined. Fiber samples from the garments are taken for later study, and stains on clothing are noted and examined.

• Any and all moles, wounds, tattoos, scars (including sergical scars), and other physical body anomalies are noted and examined.

• The corpse’s fingernails, toenails, skin, and hair are examined. The skin on the arms and legs is carefully checked for syringe markings.

• During a medical autopsy of a female, a rigorous examination of the external genitalia (labia, pubic hair, etc)is performed to determine whether or not there was a rape or sexual assault committed against the woman prior to (and/or after) her death.

• Body fluids (blood, urine, etc) are withdrawn from the body and subjected to comprehensive toxicology tests.

• The coroner makes a huge, full body-length “Y” incision that opens up the entire front of the body. The incision starts at each shoulder, proceeds on an angle down to the mid-chest, and then joins into a straight line that extends all the way to the pubis. This is the most dramatic element of a medical-legal autopsy, and most people who have never seen one performed are stunned by the dramatic way the body is spread wide by this incision. Many people have, at one time or another, seen some sort of sergical proceedure performed. The incisions, even for major abdominal surgery, are thin, neat, and relatively “clean.” An autopsy incision need not be neat, nor concerned with excessive bleeding. Thus, the corpse is split wide open by a deep cut that is a very effective reminder that the person being autopsied is, in fact, quite dead.

• First the organs of the upper abdominal cavity-the lungs, heart, esophagus and trachea-are removed. The coroner then takes out the lower abdominal organs, which include the liver, spleen, kidneys, adrenals, stomach, and intestines. Slices of each organ are taken and tested.

• The internal genitalia of both males and females are examined. In the case of females, the uterus and vagina are carefully studied for signs of pregnancy, rape, or some form of sexual assault.

• The organs of the pelvic region, including the bladder, the uterus, and the ovaries, are removed. Samples of each organ are taken and analyzed.

• When the cause of death are either drowning or a suspected poisoning or drug overdose, the contents of the stomach are removed, examined, and carefully analyzed. All findings are recorded.

• Any and all bullet wounds are recorded. The number of wounds is noted, as well as the percieved direction(s) of the bullet(s). An estimate, based on the configuration of the bullet enterance wounds, is made as to what distance the gun was from the victim when it was fired. All bullets are removed from the body and placed in plastic bags. The bullets are then examined and recorded as evidence/

• First, a deep incision is made in the skin of the scalp. The cut, which is called intermastiod, begins behind one ear, travels over the top of the head, and ends behind the opposite ear. The scalp is then grasped firmly and pulled forward over the face, baring the skull. Using an electric saw, a wedge-shaped portion of the skull is cut out and removed, exposing the brain. The brain is then removed in its entirety, weighed, and examined.

• Since he or she is now through with them, the coroner returns all of the removed internal organs to the body cavities.

• The autopsy findings, complete with a final opinion as to the cause of death, as well as all reports and photographs, are turned over to legal authorities. This “package” becomes part of the corpus delecti, and is used as evidence in a court of law when necessary. The folder containing all of this detailed information is known as the case file.

• A final determination is made as to the cause of death, and the death certificate is filled out.

• The body is turned over to the funeral director the family has selected. The body is then prepared for burial, cremation, or donation.

(via astraloctopode)

Tutankhamun’s famous burial mask, on display in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.