> Georgia Lane <glane@gallatinriver.net> wrote in message > news:a9ig6l18mi@enews1.newsguy.com... >> Yes, grave sizes HAVE changed in the past 50 years, according to >> the keeper of our home cemetery in Ohio. We were noticing the very >> same thing when we buried my sister and my mother (they died within >> 24 hours of each other). The man said that Americans in particular >> have grown in the past 50-100 years, especially in height. The >> graves are usually dug approximately 8 inches longer than formerly. On 17 Apr 2002 in soc.genealogy.misc, Kevin Ettery wrote: > Apparently the reason for graves needing to be bigger is not gradual > genetic changes, but instead that, with better nutrition, the > average human body is able to grow closer to full potential stature, > whereas the poorer nutrition of centuries past could cause various > skeletal stunting problems and so prevent full stature from being > achieved (although a picture of my g-g-grandfather [at 40] seems to > indicate that I would have been able to look him straight in the eye > - and I'm 5'11"!). I think we may be looking in the wrong arena here; the difference over the last 50 years may be technology. Specifically, many graveyards in the US now require the use of some form of grave liner, which they may not have required 50 years ago. Anybody out here in the funeral supply industry? Have casket/vault/liner sizes gotten larger over the last 50 years? -- Joe Makowiec can be reached at: makowiec(at)nycap(dot)rr(dot)com