indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest, the Northern Athapascan people of Alaska, and various cultural groups throughout Canada. The practice can be traced back to the early Greeks as early as 1000 B.C.E. who used it as a predominate means to dispose of the bodies of heroes and war dead. Among the Romans, cremation marked the disposal of the rich and largely became a status symbol throughout the civilization. Pagan Scandinavians were also found to cremate their dead, as did ancient Indian societies. Cremation in Hinduism, notable for not only allowing but prescribing the practice, can be first attested in the Cemetery H culture, from about 1900 B.C.E.
Throughout the history of cremation, particularly in part of Asia, only the most praised members of a society were cremated, such as the Tibetan high lamas. Early Christianity vehemently opposed cremation in an attempt to abolish early pagan rituals; following 1000 C.E., the practice was widely abandoned throughout much of Europe except in extreme circumstances such as disposal of the victims of the Black Death plague.
The practice reemerged in the late nineteenth century due to the rise of large cities and the reform of public health practices. In Britain, the cremation movement also found the support of Queen Victoria’s surgeon, Sir Henry Thompson, who together with colleagues founded the Cremation Society of England in 1874. The first crematoria in Europe were built in 1878, in Woking, England, and Gotha, Germany; the first in North America was founded in 1876, by Francis Julius LeMoyne in Washington, Pennsylvania.
The history of cremation has in always been a influenced by religion. Some of the various Protestant churches came to accept cremation, with the