Intentional burial, particularly with grave goods, may be one of the earliest detectable forms of religious practice since, as Philip Lieberman suggests, it may signify a "concern for the dead that transcends daily life." Though disputed, evidence suggests that the Neanderthals were the first hominids to intentionally bury the dead, doing so in shallow graves along with stone tools and animal bones . Exemplary sites include Shanidar in Iraq, Kebara Cave in Israel and Krapina in Croatia. Some scholars, however argue that these bodies may have been disposed of for secular reasons.

The earliest undisputed human burial dates back 130,000 years. Human skeletal remains stained with red ochre were discovered in the Skhul cave at Qafzeh, Israel. A variety of grave goods were present at the site, including the mandible of a wild boar in the arms of one of the skeletons.

Prehistoric cemeteries are referred to by the more neutral term grave field. They are one of the chief sources of information on prehistoric cultures, and numerous archaeological cultures are defined by their burial customs, such as the Urnfield culture of the European Bronze Age.

After death, a body will decay. Burial is not necessarily a public health requirement. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the WHO advises that only corpses carrying an infectious disease strictly require burial.

Human burial practices are the manifestation of the human desire to demonstrate "respect for the dead", and to prevent the possibilities of revenants [ghosts] harming the living. Cultures vary in their mode of respect.

Among the reasons for this are:

In many cultures, human corpses were usually buried in soil. The act of burying corpses is thought to have begun around 200,000 years ago during the Paleolithic period by Homo sapiens, before spreading out from Africa. As a result, burial grounds are found throughout the world. Mounds of earth, temples, and underground caverns were used to store the dead bodies of ancestors. In modern times, the custom of burying dead people below ground with a stone marker to mark the place is used in almost every modern culture, although other means such as cremation are becoming more popular in the west (cremation is the norm in India and mandatory in Japan[citation needed]).

Some burial practices are heavily ritualized; others are simply practical.

While perceived as a new trend in modern burial, natural burial, the process by which a body is returned to the earth to decompose naturally in soil, has been practiced in Islam for almost 1500 years.[citation needed] Natural burial became popularized in the United Kingdom in the early 1990s by Ken West, a professional cemeterian for the City of Carlisle responding to the U.K's call for changes in government that aligned with the United Nations' Environmental Program Local Agenda 21[citation needed]. The practice is gaining ground rapidly and has now expanded to Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, North America, China, Japan.[citation needed]

Embalming is the practice of preserving a body against decay, and is used in many cultures. Mummification is a more extensive method of embalming, further delaying the decay process.