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Cremation is one of the most common forms of death rituals. For eastern cultures, including Indo-Aryan derived groups, cremation has long been practice for the departed. More recently, cremation has also emerged as a way to conserve space and was used to prevent the spread of disease in crowded countries such as in the UK. There are both scientific and spiritual reasons for its emergence.

====Cremation Today====

By the 17th century, doctors and some others influenced by emerging science began to call for the use of cremation as a means to dispose of the dead in a sanitary way in Western coutnries. It became increasingly evident that disease could be prevented from spreading by cremation. By 1870s, both in Florence and the UK, the idea of cremation began to be advocated even more greatly by physicians in Western Europe. Sir Henry Thomson, who was a physician to Queen Victoria, was the first prominent official in the UK to advocate cremation. During the Victorian period, the population was growing rapidly. New cemeteries, such as Woking Cemetery, were created for the now far greater number of bodies as high population also meant high death rates. For physicians, they increasingly became concerned that cemeteries could not keep up with demand and that bodies not properly buried would spread disease.