See also: Burial Traditions, Cremation, Funerals, Mummies
The marking of graves goes back into remote antiquity. The ancient Hebrews buried their dead and used stone pillars to mark the graves. The Greeks often placed gravestones and various kinds of ornate sculpture on their burial sites.
The Assyrians (c. 750–612 B.C.E.) dug huge excavations which sometimes reached a depth of sixty feet into which they cast the bodies of their dead, one upon the other. Even when they began to place their dead in coffins, the Assyrians continued to pile one above the other in great excavations.
The Iberians, the original people who inhabited the peninsula where modern day Portugal and Spain exist, buried their leaders with great pomp and ceremony in chambers made of huge stones, covered over with earth. The bodies were placed in these megalithic chambers in a sitting posture. The Aryans, an Indo-European people, burned their dead and placed the ashes in urns shaped like rounded huts with thatched roofs.
Decorating graves with flowers and wreaths is an old custom which appears to date back to the earliest human burial observances. Wreaths made of thin gold have been found in Athenian graves during archaeological excavations. The Egyptians adorned their mummies with flowers, and paintings on the walls of tombs that depict the mourners carrying flowers in their hands.
Not everyone who died in ancient Egypt was buried in a tomb. Although the Egyptians believed firmly in an afterlife, they were also of the opinion that only the powerful and important in the earthly life would have any notable status in the world to come. According to rank and wealth, those who were great in Egypt, and therefore likely to be important in the next life, were laid to rest in magnificent tombs with treasure, servants, food, and weapons to accompany them; the ordinary people were buried in rude stone compartments.
The rulers of the ancient city of Thebes, once the capital of upper-Egypt (1580–1085 B.C.E.) and their subjects never constructed massive pyramids to house their coffins, but cut their tombs from rock. As soon as a pharaoh would ascend the throne, his loyal subjects began the preparation of their tombs. Excavation went on uninterrupted, year by year, until death ended the king’s reign and simultaneously the work on his tomb which also became a kind of an index revealing the length of his reign. These tombs, cut from the rock in the mountains in Upper Egypt, are still to be seen.
In sixteenth century Europe, it was customary to make wreaths of flowers from ribbon and paper and give them to the church in memory of the deceased. These artificial wreaths of long ago evolved into the contemporary mourning wreath of living flowers, usually brought by friends or relatives of the deceased and placed upon the grave.
Centers for Disease Control
In the event that a real-life zombie uprising really does occur, there is one agency of government—more than any other—that will likely play a major, leading role in trying to quickly find an antidote for the virus that brings back the dead in horrific, murderous form. Its name is the Centers for Disease Control, or the CDC. In a strictly fictional format, this has already happened. In “Wildfire,” the fifth episode of the first season of AMC’s phenomenally popular show, The Walking Dead, group-leader Rick Grimes leads his band of starving, exhausted survivors to the headquarters of the CDC in Atlanta, Georgia. After begging to be let in, they are met by the mysterious and cautious Edwin Jenner. He is the very last survivor of the installation and someone who seems to be, suspiciously, highly informed about the zombie virus, as well as its origins, nature, and history. As the episode comes to a climactic close, Jenner quietly tells Grimes something terrible. In a later episode, the group finally learns the awful secret.
Rick Grimes explains to his shocked comrades exactly what Jenner confided in him: “We’re all infected.” And we are. At some point before the apocalypse exploded all across the planet, Jenner revealed, every single person was already unknowingly infected by the zombie virus. Yes, a bite from the walking dead will kill you and bring you back. But, death under any and all circumstances—a fatal accident, old age, suicide, or a terminal disease—will bring you back, too. Jenner did not reveal how, or under what circumstances, the virus spread—or, perhaps, was allowed to spread—but that made very little difference to Rick Grimes and his friends, who now knew that even if they successfully avoided a deadly zombie bite for all of their lives, they would still, one day, ultimately transform into something hideous.
The headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control are located in Atlanta, Georgia.
So much for the world of television fiction, but what is the actual nature of the CDC? Would it take a leading role in combating an outbreak of marauding zombies? Certainly, without doubt, the answer is: yes, absolutely. The real world CDC is at the forefront of helping to lessen, and ultimately stop, any and all threats posed by deadly viruses. “Category A” viruses, for the CDC, are considered to be the most serious ones of all.
They are those specific viruses that, says the CDC, “can be easily spread or transmitted from person to person,” that “result in high death rates and have the potential for major public health impact,” that “might cause panic and social disruption,”, and that would “require special action for public health preparedness.” It practically goes without saying that all four of those criteria which fall into the CDC’s “Category A” could more than easily apply to the outbreak of a virus that returns the dead to some psychotic semblance of life.
Moreover, and by the CDC’s very own admission, its work is “a critical component of overall U.S. national security.” The U.S. government most assuredly recognizes the profound importance of the CDC from that very same national security perspective. Currently, the CDC receives yearly funding of around $1.3 billion to “build and strengthen national preparedness for public health emergencies caused by natural, accidental, or intentional events.” It also works closely with the Department of Homeland Security, and with FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
If, one day, the dead do return to cause chaos and carnage, our best hopes for survival may very well be wholly dependent upon the finest minds of the CDC.
It may sound like the ultimate April Fools’ Day joke, or a tall tale with which to terrify children on the spookiest night of the year: Halloween. Incredibly, however, it is not. The U.S. government’s Centers for Disease Control has a section of its website devoted to nothing less than how to deal with a zombie outbreak. Yes, we are talking about a real zombie outbreak. Not only that: much of the online data at the site was provided by Rear Admiral Ali S. Khan, who, in August 2010, was assigned to lead the work of the CDC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response. Rear Admiral Khan is also the Deputy Director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases. He is, therefore, a prestigious and highly regarded figure.
In a May 2011 article for the CDC’s website, Khan gave a brief history of zombie lore. It encompassed Haitian beliefs on the subject, its links with Voodoo rites and rituals, and its place in the field of movies, such as Night of the Living Dead. Khan noted: “The rise of zombies in pop culture has given credence to the idea that a zombie apocalypse could happen. In such a scenario, zombies would take over entire countries, roaming city streets eating anything living that got in their way.”
More intriguing were Rear Admiral Khan’s words on what direct action the CDC might have
