On Sat, May 9, 2015 at 4:11 PM, <shadow@shadowgard.com> wrote:

Not sure if they'd have to dig upo the graves after a period of tiome
and do something to "encourage" the bones to break down though.

According to "Vampires, Burial and Death: Folklore and Reality" by Paul Barber, intact human bodies take a surprisingly long time to decompose, even if not subjected to modern embalming techniques.

Since this culture would essentially be using their deceased as an important component in compost (presumably not having large numbers of domesticated animals to provide manure as fertilizer), it would be much more efficient to grind the bodies up and mix them thoroughly with larger amounts of vegetable matter. All the composting advice I've been reading lately says that component particles should be no larger than a quarter-inch in their largest dimension, in order to best encourage breakdown.

--

Richard Aiken

"Never insult anyone by accident."  Robert A. Heinlein

"A word to the wise ain't necessary -- it's the stupid ones that need the advice." - Bill Cosby

"We know a little about a lot of things; just enough to make us dangerous." Dean Winchester

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