Buried in the SIberian steppes these women (and some men) probably started their travels in Trans-Baikal or Mongolia. Buried in full regalia of which metal and stone survive - highly ornate metalwork as well as decorated coal were used for belt buckles. Such ornamental fastenings would have signalled status within their tribal group.

A conservative local councillor in Walsall says now that the cost of cremations is going up 'it seems cheaper to stay alive'.

The 1968 excavation photograph shows the combined remains of three people, all female, who lived in NE America about 3000 years ago. There are two skeletons, the lower (a young girl aged 16 or so) of which is resting on a 'pillow' of cremated bones (from a young female adult). The larger skeleton is of a woman probably in her 50s.

On a small island between Corsica & Sardinia Mauro Morani lives a secluded life. Blown here by stormwinds he is connected to the ancient energies of the Mediterranean.

Trying to recover a missing nephew for proper burial in Brook County, Texas

The world can be a grim place and the Yushu earthquake is life at its grimmest.

An excellent article by Seth Boster outlining monthly costs to Calhoun county, Alabama, for the cremation of indigent people who have died. Now it seems all indigent people who die in Calhoun county are cremated at a cost of $500.

A Vietnam War veteran named Walter 'Jim' Hosey had his ashes scattered by being loaded into 50 shotgun cartridges and fired across a shooting range in Utah.

What starts as a reflection on the rise in numbers of cremations in Minnesota turns into a very interesting discussion about the the differences in viewing a body in a coffin or ashes in an urn as part of a funeral.

Mount Taranaki, New Zealand - the informal scattering of ashes at Mount Taranaki appears commonplace and local climbers report regularly seeing ash deposits. This article contains some interesting perspectives on different ethnic responses to these