Quicklime isn’t just for clandestine and diseased burials. In the Iron Age, quicklime burials were the normal form of disposal for a cultural group in the Balearic Islands in Spain. The burials are often found in caves and rock shelters along the coast. Each burial usually contains the bones of a single individual and a number of warped metal artifacts. The bones from these burials have variation in their appearance from light brown to pale white in coloration, and some of the bone shows warping and cracking typical of bone that has been heated at high temperatures. Traditionally, these burials have been interpreted as being inhumation within quicklime that caused the body to quickly decay and change in composition similar to a cremation burial due to the chemical effects of quicklime. However, Van Strydonck et al. (2013) argue that based on earlier experimental studies like Schotsmans et al. (2012), the warping and discoloration similar to cremation could not be caused by quicklime because it is more likely to preserve than destroy. They argue instead, that the remains were cremated and then placed in the quicklime. They posit that the bodies of this Iron Age group were cremated within their grave. The grave was probably filled with crushed limestone, which when heated during the cremation process were turned into a quicklime lining.
Quicklime is an interesting substance. It is popular for its mythological ability to remove identities from remains and destroy bones, but it also has a history of being used in to remove miasmas and was part of ritual processes such as the Iron Age burials. More likely if you see quicklime being used today, it is probably for a mundane purpose like making cement so don’t necessarily jump to conclusions. Now go forth and use this knowledge to tear apart your friends’ theories on disposing of a body!
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