Portugal’s crisis is being caused by a sudden increase in the number of human bodies that have not yet decomposed after burial. Some bodies have been observed naturally mammifying after they were buried.
To save space, all bodies must be routinely exhumed in order to place skeletal remains in smaller containers.
However, many don’t die, creating trauma for loved ones who are often found and then put back to continue to decay.
The problem is that no one knows what happens to bodies that are buried in coffins.
Scientists from Portugal are trying to find the source of these bizarre mummifications.
Grave recycling is a way to reduce overcrowding
Facing with Its cramped urban cemeteries are experiencing extreme overcrowdingPortugal, in the 1960s, introduced the concept to temporary graves.
It is easy to see that a decomposed body takes up less space. You can pack bones into a smaller coffin, and move them to a more spacious place like the cemeteries’ walls.
Angela Silva Bessa, an anthropologist at the University of Coimbra and forensic anthropologist who has been studying Portuguese cemeteries said that there is not enough space.
The bodies that refuses to rot
The family of the deceased can receive a letter three years after burial informing them that they need to move the remains soon.
According to law, the body cannot move if it has become a skeleton and no other soft tissue.
Gravediggers must dig up the body in order to check it. If the body isn’t sufficiently decomposed, it will be buried again. The process continues every two years until it becomes complete.
A survey of cemeteries found in Porto, Portugal’s second-largest, revealed that Between 2006 and 2015, 55 to 64 per cent of bodies were not completely decomposed following their first exhumation.
Paulo Carreira is the funeral home owner and chief executive for the national funeral association in Portugal. He told Insider that most families deal well with the first time.
However, repeated unearthings can be extremely emotionally damaging.
Carreira says that in some cases it may take years of burials and reburials before the body finally reaches its final resting place.
For a subset, however, the process can be endless because they mummify.
This happened spontaneously, unlike Egyptian mummies which were preserved in a deliberate manner. Natural mummification occurs when a body dries quickly enough to stop decomposition. It can also be observed in extreme environments, such as deserts or glaciers, and in extreme heat or cold.
It has been difficult to determine why this happens in Portuguese graves.
A search to understand death
Silva Bessa with her colleagues Have been trying to find out what might slow down the process of decompositionHer PhD thesis project was the first of its kind and involved the discovery of these bodies in Portugal.
With their consent, she collected samples from their bodies and soil from five cemeteries.
Insider reported that she found it “amazing.” “In the same section, I have different stages decomposition.”
Some bodies are completely skeletonized and others are still decomposing, she stated. Others will be mummified from head to toe.
“Even with the same body, I may have all the body bones skeletonized. The pelvis area is putrefaction and the hands are mummified. She said that you could find a little of everything.
Silva Bessa analyzed eight properties of soil that might influence decomposition: temperature, acidity and moisture.
She has not yet found a breakthrough. She said that she honestly believed she would find at least a relationship between soil properties and body composition.
Next, she will test whether certain substances in people’s lives (e.g., if they used tobacco or other medicines) could have an impact on their health.
It is still not known what causes body decomposition.
Tristan Krap is a Maastricht University lecturer in Forensic Sciences who studies the decomposition and decay of bodies. He said that he wasn’t surprised that they don’t fully decompose within three years.
Although he stated that he expected a “normal” body in a grave to take approximately five years to decay, he acknowledged that this was largely guesswork.
Krap is one of many scientists who use facilities that allow them to access donated bodies for decomposition research, also known as body farms.
These tend to be more concerned with what happens to the body below the ground. This is useful in cases like murder investigations, but less helpful when it comes to understanding regular burials.
It is often less important to consider what happens to the body once it has been buried in its grave. This can be much more complicated.
The body is “a large biological bomb” that introduces In the soil, bacteria, tissues, as well as various juices, are introducedKrap stated that the ecosystem of, is complex.
Krap suggested that one factor could be variations in people’s body sizes, muscle mass, fat levels, and overall size.
Read more about the decomposition process here.
Cultural and grieving effects that last a lifetime
Silva Bessa stated, “This has a positive social impact which is a huge deal for my country.”
Carreira explained that in the face of the scarcity of graves, people are increasingly turning to cremation. Carreira also said that his business was able to adapt.
“Fifteen Years ago, there were four crematoria. “Today, we have 38,” said he.
To an extent, it works – if everyone was cremated, there would be no problem.
Silva Bessa said that the Portuguese have a tradition of burying the bodies and not putting them in a grave. For now, a lack of space and a gaping hole in science are squeezing it from existence.
She is currently focusing her efforts on finding a parameter that might help.
This article was originally published in Business Insider.
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