I know in Greece, where land is often scarce, bodies are exhumed after 12 months, the bones reverently washed by the relatives and placed in an ossuary and the land reused. It was a bit disconcerting once to see a pile of used coffins, dumped in the corner of a churchyard, but we buttoned-up WASPS may be too squeamish. In the Cook Islands in the Pacific, elaborate family graves are erected in the front gardens close to the road, but after a generation of loving care are allowed to decay naturally, the generations move on and the physical signs don't need to be maintained as the family traditions are still remembered.