Is it safe to put a body in a coffin?

Death isn't just the ultimate existential dilemma;

it's also a logistical problem — from the living's perspective. Throughout human history, we've struggled to find the best possible ways to respectfully dispose of our deceased loved ones' bodies while adhering to the religious belief systems that define our respective cultures. For instance, early Vikings often relied on funeral pyres to properly send the dead on their way to the afterlife, according to History.

They were also known to place the deceased in ships and push them out to sea before setting them ablaze with flaming arrows — but this was usually reserved for chieftains and other high-ranking individuals. Either way, it was believed that the smoke from the fire was the vessel that would deliver their souls to the other side — be it Valhalla for warriors who died in battle or Hel for those who died of sickness or old age.

Ancient Egyptians used complex methods of mummification to preserve their Pharaohs, believing that this process — coupled with extravagant rituals — was the only way for them to reach the Field of Reeds, according to the World History Encyclopedia. It was believed that the physical body was a necessary component of the afterlife. In a practice that goes back 11,000 years and still occurs today, people of Tibet partake in sky burials — which involve the body first being dismembered by a Burial Master and then taken to a highly elevated area where vultures consume the remains, according to Emory University.

In modern societies, you might think that the practice of burying our loved ones in a coffin is the most popular method. However, this is not the case — at least in America.

"That, that is not my future. I'm not gonna be buried in a grave."

Choice Mutual did a survey and found that cremation is what most people desire, with 44% leaning towards this option. Nonetheless, traditional burials still come in second, with 35% preferring to rest for eternity in a coffin six feet underground. While we can't make any scientific confirmation of a soul or what happens to your consciousness after you pass away, we do know quite well what happens to the body after it's been left to do its thing for decades. In short, it turns into the dust and dirt from which it came, and there's a timeline for how it all goes down. Once a body's been laying in a coffin for 50 years, there's really not much of it left. The process of human decomposition starts almost immediately after death and leaves an unrecognizable lump of desiccated flesh within days or weeks of demise. But what about embalmment, you might ask. Unfortunately, this doesn't have a particularly long-lasting effect. According to The Funeral Source, your typical mortuary embalming helps the corpse avoid the bloating stage and keeps it looking fresh for a few days to a week, tops, just long enough for family to pay their respects. After that, it's back to decomposition as usual. It does slow the process down a little, but only by about five to ten years, according to Live Science. Per The Guardian, the first thing to go when a body starts to decompose is the digestive tract. All the helpful bacteria the gut previously used for digestion no longer has an immune system to keep it in check, so it multiplies, spreads, and feeds on all of the body's internal organs, starting with the intestines. Eventually, it works its way outwards and devours everything in its path. As Business Insider points out, the only things still hanging about after a half-century are bones and a bit of skin. The skin isn't really skin after this long, either. It's dried out and wrapped nicely around the skeleton like a mummified cocoon. Thanks to the heavy load of strong, fibrous collagen that makes up the dermis and other structures like tendons and ligaments, the remains aren't just a bleached lump of bones. Instead, they're a picturesque bouquet of desiccated horror suitable for the most terrifying of nightmares — but don't let that worry you. Even that won't last for too much longer. Eventually, the little that remains of a body will return to the earth and revert to soil to nurture new life for years to come. It's not so bad when you put it that way, is it?