h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

why are coffins the shape that they are?

They aren't like that everywhere in the world. I remember watching a documentary on this once; I think it was in West Africa, and there the coffins were carved in such a way that they represented something important about the person in life - flowers, animals, etc. There was even a giant mobile-phone shaped one...

ok..i didn't know that..

Might it be to make it easy for several people to carry? If the sides were straight, the carriers at the back can't see where they're going, but because the front is tapered, they can see past the front carrier?

It's a theory.....

Otto

i was asked this question at the wkend..my answer was rejected..but i think i'm right..(i'm not often right....)
so u know which end the head goes..bodies are buried with head at headstone end..(yes..i know some are cremated..)

Maybe it corresponds roughly to the shape of the body - the shoulders are the broadest part of most people, after all...

i think apart from the coffin being a cross shape
with just the corners joined up, it requires less wood
to make....
maybe....

erm..excuse me..michael!..uses less wood was my second answer..after..know which end the head goes..u rejected both of them..now ur using one of my answers....

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..xx..

I'm just going to ask again, which coffin shape are you talking about? Here we have rectangular coffins now.

I thought coffins were a sort of elongated hexagon shape. Take an ordinary hexagon and stretch one half of it out. Does that make any sense? I haven't looked closely at the coffins at recent funerals I have attended, so they may have changed to straight rectangular recently.

sorry..when i was asked the question i didn't give a thought to any other shape..other than..let's say..like u see in dracula films..i was at that time unaware of any other shape..surprising what u can learn on here....

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I can't remember having seen any recent funerals with Dracula coffins.

PUPPETMASTER:Michael?!..u started this..asking me a question when u didn't have the correct answer..so..can u please explain what u meant..i don't seem to be speaking in a language anyone else can understand....they must be like u..better educated than what i am....

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..xx..

Well fellow researchers, maybe with
the traditional coffin shape it is easier
to bury in a grave.

I'd have thought a rectangular one easier to bury, myself - easier edges and all that.

michael..oh..so this is where u dissapeared to..there is a rather unpleasant msg waiting for u in LD..at least i didn't shout it..lol..
traditional shape..yeah..why didn't i think of that....

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..xx..

puppet..sorry michael..this was not the place to say that..xx..

Does anyone know why traditional coffins are shaped the way they are?..

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I'd go with the saving wood thing. It is after all a waste of good wood. But I think when you lower them down on ropes into the grave, a rectangular coffin is easier. Also you don't have to worry about wasting wood, as the coffins are so damn expensive anyway.

I agree with the idea that its the closest approximation to the shape of the body when outlined with straight lines. An economical yet snug fit.

Better than a rectangular box which would allow the contents to roll about...

Sod traditional shapes, I'm going to be buried in an ecopod, which is bean shaped. It is also designed to rot quickly, allowing you to return to the earth quickly.