Where did the practice of cremation start and is it ok for Christians?
Heres what I found about the history of cremation: Scholars today quite generally agree that cremation probably began in any real sense around 3000 B.C. – and most likely in Europe and the Near East. Later cremation began to spread across northern Europe, as evidenced by particularly informative finds of decorative pottery urns in western Russia among the Slavic peoples. From there, the practice spread to the British Isles and into what is now Spain and Portugal. Cemeteries for cremation developed in Hungary and northern Italy, spreading to northern Europe and even Ireland. Around 1000 B.C. – cremation became an integral part of the elaborate Grecian burial customs. In fact, it became the dominant mode of disposition by 800 B.C. and was actually encouraged for reasons of health and expedient burial of slain warriors in this battle-ravaged country. By the time of the Roman Empire – 27 B.C. to 395 A.D. – it was widely practiced, and cremated remains were generally stored in elaborate urn
