[Overpaid Slacker]

I'm with Livi. Given the reverence for the dead prevalent in many cultures, I think they wouldn't want their deceased family/friends to become some scavenger's stool.

Cremation may (wild guess) be more prevalent in cultures where it was difficult to bury or sufficiently entomb bodies ... very cold climates, sandy climates, or nomadic folk.

Whereas burial at sea virtually guarantees you'll wind up as crab crap, I think sanitary/hygiene reasons are behind that tradition. Carrying a corpse around for weeks in tropical heat until you can offload what remains of it .... yeeccch.

JP