Why are people buried at 6ft?

Answer 1

All the above are wrong.

Six feet under, or burying deep, began as a custom in Europe and England.

It was simply a means of allowing for reuse of the same plot, that is, multiple interments in one grave. There may have been several bodies buried at different times in a single plot.

This practice of reusing burial space continued in England until the Victorian Period.

Six feet under had nothing to do with plague or disease. They didn't know about microorganisms or even how diseases like the plague were spread. Usually, they burned bodies in piles and/or buried them in shallow graves, often both burning and burying.

There is no record of a plague burial law as one poster maintains.

As an interesting footnote, some modern cemetaries will allow double interrments in a single grave. The first is buried at a depth of approximatey seven feet, and later a second may be buried just above the level of the first.


Source: stuff I know, and a review of several mortuary and cemetary sites.

Answer 2

To answer you question the 6ft figure came from the black plague, a law was passed in England that all bodies were to be buried 6 ft deep to reduce the spread of the plague, too bad the plague was spread by fleas not dead bodies. This number is not standard any more though (people are being burried even standing up to save land space), in some places bodies can't even be buried because of soil depths, conditions and water table depths, In many places bodies must be entombed above ground. In California, caskets must be covered by at least 18 inches of dirt and turf. The actual depth fluctuates deepening on the part of the world, an 6ft under just sounds good, no matter what depth the dead are at.

Answer 3

Six foot is and has always been the depth considered necessary in dealing with hazardous waste - i.e. in this case, decomposing human tissue. Further, it is about as deep as can be dug by a single person. Garden burials are dealt with in the UK in a law contained in the Burial Laws Amendment Act 1880 and touch on this subject and which make clear the minimum dept required for a grave is 6 feet. Notwithstanding this, it is now quite common in many countries for graves to be opened and another coffin to be burried on top of the existing one, thereby reducing the bruial depth to around four feet. All over the world, burial depths are similar and no doubt brought about by experience which has shown that this is the best depth to avoid problems.

Answer 4

Oi...

People were buried six feet deep because they needed a hole deep enough to prevent animals from scavenging the bodies, keep the coffins from being able to work their way to the surface, and to keep any diseases from the rotting of the corpse at bay. A hole six feet deep serves all those purposes.

It wasn't always the case, or even usually the case, in ancient times that graves were dug so deeply, though, since people were often interred through other means. Quite frequently, especially among the poor, bodies were simply tossed into large pits and covered with lime, or burned. Catacombs were also common, and it was popular to "de-flesh" the remains of nobles and dispose of the tissue separately while interring the bones in coffins or smaller boxes (Christopher Columbus's remains, for instance, were interred that way and reside in a small box at the base of a church monument built in his honor).

If you want to see a good example of that still played out, go read the infamous graveyard scene out of Shakespeare's "Hamlet". It's an easy way to get a glimpse into burial practices and some of the reasons for them at the time (about 1500 or so).

Graves are also six feet deep for the obvious reason. Before the advent of the back-hoe, guys with shovels had to dig the grave, and they had to be able to a) toss the dirt out of the hole with their shovels, and b) climb out once they were done, both of which are very difficult to do if the hole is much deeper than the person digging it is tall... and since most men are somewhere near six feet tall, that turned out to be a good depth for it.

Answer 5

Cause it's so much fun to scream "I'm gonna put you 6 feet deep!!" When your pissed at someone!!! Seriously, I don't know why.... I too often wonder that, I think it has something to do with the stench of the corpse after it begins the process of decomposition and maybe at 6 feet, you can't hear the rigormortis knocking around the body in the coffin... Ooh, this is getting morbid!

Answer 6

the first thing I thought was about that movie on HBO I use to love it last year when I was 12 very inappropriate for me. Then my mom cut the cable. oh and the first answer is funny scary and true. i would also like to add to that answer and say so that the smell doesnt escape from the grave and the relatives of the decased one will be cought b4 they dig up the whole grave.

Answer 7

at 6ft or under 6ft ? well i think if under 6ft so they do not get disturb by the noise above and if at six ft the probably more room is required to rest in Peace

Answer 8

So that the rain will not wash the dirt away and reveal the bodies and to prevent the smell of rotting flesh from permeating into the land above!

Answer 9

might be based on the height of a man standing? they probably did not have any other form of depth measurement back then... hence the fact you have units of measure such as "feet" and "handspan". It also is probably the max depth at which the the gravedigger can get out without assistance!

Answer 10

Because it is a very comfortable temperature. If you go down too deep, then you will get too cold. If you are buried to high, then you will get too warm. It's all about comfort. Dead people can't be sweating to death, or freezing to death. Haha!!!