Digging Up the Dead

Death is as old as life itself, and the rituals accompanying it are about as old, too. For thousands of years, cultures around the world have ritualized death as a way of understanding it. Whether it was preserving a body for eternity or disposing of it completely to set the soul free, a culture’s funerary customs reveal much about how its people viewed life and death. This text provides an age-appropriate examination of death rituals from cultures both ancient and modern. Captivating sidebars, fact boxes, a graphic organizer, and engaging visuals will encourage readers to look to the past to see how we handle death today.