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An urn is a vase, ordinarily covered, that usually has a narrowed neck above a footed pedestal. In Classical terms, an urn is a large decorative covered container of wood, metal, pottery, etc. In furniture, it was a large wooden vase-like container which was usually set on a pedestal on either side of a side table. This was the characteristic of Adam designs and also of Hepplewhite's work. Urns were also used as decorative turnings at the cross points of stretchers in 16th and 17th century furniture designs. The urn and the vase were often set on the central pedestal in a "broken" or "swan's" neck pediment.〔Martin Pegler, ''The Dictionary of Interior Design''.〕 ==Cremation urns== Funerary urns (also called cinerary urns and burial urns) were used by many civilizations. After a person died, survivors cremated the body and collected the ashes in an urn. Pottery urns, dating from about 7000 BC, have been found in an early Jiahu site in China, where a total of 32 burial urns are found,〔Hu, Yaowu. "Elemental Analysis of Ancient Human Bones from the Jiahu Site," in ''Acta Anthropologica Sinica'', 2005, Vol. 24, No. 2:158–165. ISSN 1000-3193, p. 159.〕 and another early finds are in Laoguantai, Shaanxi.〔Luan, Fengshi. "On the Origin and Development of Prehistoric Coffin and Funeral Custom," in ''Cultural Relices'', 2006, No. 6:49–55. ISSN 0511-4772, pp. 49–55.〕 There are about 700 burial urns unearthed over the Yangshao (5000–3000 BC) areas and consisting more than 50 varieties of form and shape. The burial urns were used mainly for children, but also sporadically for adults.〔Wang, Xiao. "On the Early Funeral Coffin in Central China," in ''Cultural Relices of Central China'', 1997, No. 3:93–100. ISSN 1003-1731. pp. 93-96.〕 In ancient Greece, the ''lekythos'', a type of pottery in ancient Greece, was used for holding oil in funerary rituals. In the Bavarian tradition, a king's heart would be placed in the urn upon his death (as happened with King Otto of Bavaria in 1916). Cremation urns were also commonly used in early Anglo Saxon England,〔See, for example, the Wold Newton urns — (www.woldnewton.net ).〕 and in many Pre-Columbian cultures. Romans placed the urns in a niche in a collective tomb called a ''columbarium'' (literally, dovecote). The interior of a dovecote usually has niches to house doves. The discovery of a Bronze Age urn burial in Norfolk, England, prompted Sir Thomas Browne to carefully describe the antiquities found. He expanded his study to survey burial and funerary customs, ancient and current, and published it as ''Hydriotaphia or Urn Burial'' (1658). In the modern funeral industry, cremation urns of varying quality, elaborateness, and cost are offered, and urns are another source of potential profit for an industry concerned that a trend toward cremation might threaten profits from traditional burial ceremonies.〔Jessica Mitford, ''The American Way of Death Revisited'' (Random House, 2011), ISBN 978-0307809391, pp. 115-116. (Excerpts available ) at Google Books.〕〔Stephen R. Prothero, ''Purified by Fire: A History of Cremation in America'' (University of California Press, 2002), ISBN 978-0520929746, pp. 196ff. (Excerpts available ) at Google Books.〕 Biodegradable urns are sometimes used for both human and animal burial. They are made from eco-friendly materials such as recycled or handmade paper, salt, cellulose or other natural products that are capable of decomposing back into natural elements, and sometimes include a seed intended to grow into a tree at the site of the burial.〔("Biodegradable urns use human remains to grow trees" ) CBC News, October 21, 2012.〕〔("RIP: Recycle in Peace" ), Discovery News, May 17, 2011.〕〔("Biodegradable Urn Lets You Go Green, Even Six Feet Under" ), ''Time'', May 17, 2011.〕 Besides the traditional funeral or cremation ashes urns, it is also possible to keep a part of the ashes of the loved one or beloved pet in keepsake urns or ash jewelry. It is even possible to place the ashes of two people in so-called companion urns. (Source ) Cremation or funeral urns are made from a variety of materials such as wood, nature stone, ceramic, glass, or steel. Scattering of ashes has become popular over the last decade. As a result, urns designed to scatter the ashes from have been developed. Some are eco-friendly, affordable and can be recycled after being used. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「urn」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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