{
  "vercy": "1.0-draft",
  "publication": {
    "status": "research-draft",
    "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed",
    "publishableCanonical": false,
    "generatedAt": "2026-10-22T10:21:25Z",
    "providers": [
      "Claude"
    ],
    "breadth": "researched by Claude against the sources listed below",
    "pass": 2,
    "wave": 5,
    "engine": "claude",
    "gate": {
      "passed": true,
      "version": "1.0",
      "at": "2026-10-22T11:56:49+00:00",
      "evidence": [
        "completeness 1.00",
        "sense: Wikidata description",
        "5 live sources",
        "review by codex: pass"
      ]
    }
  },
  "metaModel": {
    "id": "THING-Q4998809",
    "registryId": "vr.tr.burial-tree",
    "name": "burial tree",
    "version": "0.2.0-wave.5",
    "entryKind": "thing",
    "family": "Thing Registry",
    "domain": [
      "PHY.BLT"
    ],
    "status": "research-draft"
  },
  "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q4998809/",
  "model": {
    "registry_id": "vr.tr.burial-tree",
    "name": "burial tree",
    "purpose": "Let an agent describe burial trees and related practices respectfully and with ethnographic and archaeological sources.",
    "definition": "A tree or simple raised structure used to support the dead in tree or scaffold burial, forms of above-ground funerary deposition practised in some cultures, such as among some Indigenous peoples of North America, Siberia and parts of Asia and Oceania; distinct from Tibetan sky burial.",
    "what_it_is_for": "Funerary practice.",
    "affordances": [
      "describe practices by culture and period",
      "describe related structures (burial scaffolds, platforms)",
      "point to ethnographic sources",
      "explain heritage and repatriation concerns"
    ],
    "distinguishing_features": [
      "Exposure of the body above ground, unlike inhumation.",
      "Practices and meanings differ greatly between cultures.",
      "Related to burial scaffolds and sky burial."
    ],
    "appearance": "Trees or platforms with wrapped bodies or remains placed in branches or on raised supports.",
    "visual_identification": [
      "Remains or coffins placed in trees or on raised platforms"
    ],
    "physical_properties": [],
    "families_and_kinds": [
      "trees used as funerary supports",
      "purpose-built burial scaffolds or platforms"
    ],
    "related_models": [
      {
        "relation": "is a kind of",
        "target": "funerary structure",
        "why": "burial"
      },
      {
        "relation": "supports",
        "target": "tree or scaffold burial",
        "why": "practice"
      },
      {
        "relation": "is related to",
        "target": "hanging coffins",
        "why": "practice"
      },
      {
        "relation": "is distinct from",
        "target": "sky burial",
        "why": "Tibetan practice"
      }
    ],
    "identifiers": [],
    "standards_and_regulation": [
      "Laws on treatment of human remains and repatriation, such as NAGPRA in the United States"
    ],
    "failure_modes_and_hazards": [
      "Disrespectful treatment or display of remains"
    ],
    "agent_conduct": {
      "may": [
        "describe practices respectfully with sources"
      ],
      "must_not": [
        "share images or locations of remains without consent",
        "sensationalise funerary practices"
      ],
      "requires_human": [
        "questions of cultural practice, which belong to the communities"
      ]
    },
    "ethics": {
      "considerations": [
        "respect for the dead",
        "Indigenous rights"
      ],
      "affected_parties": [
        "descendant communities"
      ]
    },
    "owners": {
      "steward": "the community whose practice it is",
      "master_systems": [
        "ethnographic and archaeological archives"
      ]
    },
    "facets_not_applicable": {
      "properties": "Structures vary; dimensions belong to each case."
    },
    "in_scope": [],
    "out_of_scope": [],
    "characteristics": []
  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "SRC-001",
      "title": "Q4998809",
      "publisher": "Wikidata",
      "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4998809",
      "what_it_supports": "identity of the registry item, labels and sitelinks",
      "url_status": "live"
    },
    {
      "id": "SRC-002",
      "title": "Scaffold burial",
      "publisher": "Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of the American Indian",
      "url": "https://americanindian.si.edu/collections-search/edan-record/ead_component%3Asova-nmai-ac-108-ref764",
      "what_it_supports": "Documented Apsaalooke scaffold burial and culturally sensitive restrictions on archival material.",
      "url_status": "live"
    },
    {
      "id": "SRC-003",
      "title": "Burial - coffins and caskets",
      "publisher": "Australian Museum",
      "url": "https://australian.museum/about/history/exhibitions/death-the-last-taboo/burial-coffins-and-caskets/",
      "what_it_supports": "North American tree and scaffold burial using wrapped bodies, coffins, baskets or supported canoes.",
      "url_status": "live"
    },
    {
      "id": "SRC-004",
      "title": "Disposing of the dead - Exposure",
      "publisher": "Australian Museum",
      "url": "https://australian.museum/about/history/exhibitions/death-the-last-taboo/disposing-of-the-dead-exposure/",
      "what_it_supports": "Differences between funerary exposure traditions, Solomon Islands examples and Tibetan practices.",
      "url_status": "live"
    },
    {
      "id": "SRC-005",
      "title": "Chapter 8: Community-initiated repatriation: locating and provenancing Ancestral Remains",
      "publisher": "National Museum of Australia",
      "url": "https://www.nma.gov.au/about/publications/repatriation-handbook/chapter-8",
      "what_it_supports": "Secondary deposition following exposure and the importance of community knowledge and provenance.",
      "url_status": "blocked"
    },
    {
      "id": "SRC-006",
      "title": "Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act",
      "publisher": "U.S. National Park Service",
      "url": "https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nagpra/index.htm",
      "what_it_supports": "Protection and return of Native American human remains and funerary objects within NAGPRA's scope.",
      "url_status": "live"
    }
  ],
  "structure": {
    "bundles": [
      {
        "id": "practice",
        "name": "Practice",
        "description": "Which tradition.",
        "rationale": "Context first.",
        "layers": [
          {
            "id": "culture",
            "name": "Culture",
            "description": "People and region.",
            "findings": [
              {
                "id": "culture",
                "name": "Culture",
                "description": "People and region.",
                "questions": [
                  {
                    "text": "Which people and region?",
                    "kind": "provenance"
                  },
                  {
                    "text": "In which period?",
                    "kind": "provenance"
                  }
                ]
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "id": "form",
            "name": "Form",
            "description": "Tree or platform.",
            "findings": [
              {
                "id": "form",
                "name": "Form",
                "description": "Structure, preparation of the body, and whether a final resting place or a stage before secondary deposition.",
                "questions": [
                  {
                    "text": "What form did it take?",
                    "kind": "provenance"
                  },
                  {
                    "text": "How was the body prepared?",
                    "kind": "provenance"
                  }
                ]
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "id": "meaning",
        "name": "Meaning",
        "description": "Beliefs.",
        "rationale": "Meanings vary.",
        "layers": [
          {
            "id": "beliefs",
            "name": "Beliefs",
            "description": "Religious meaning.",
            "findings": [
              {
                "id": "belief",
                "name": "Belief",
                "description": "Account and source.",
                "questions": [
                  {
                    "text": "What did the practice mean?",
                    "kind": "provenance"
                  },
                  {
                    "text": "According to which sources?",
                    "kind": "provenance"
                  }
                ]
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "id": "who",
            "name": "Who",
            "description": "Who received this burial.",
            "findings": [
              {
                "id": "selection",
                "name": "Selection",
                "description": "Group.",
                "questions": [
                  {
                    "text": "Was it for particular people?",
                    "kind": "provenance"
                  },
                  {
                    "text": "Why?",
                    "kind": "provenance"
                  }
                ]
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "id": "evidence",
        "name": "Evidence",
        "description": "Sources.",
        "rationale": "Sources need care.",
        "layers": [
          {
            "id": "ethnography",
            "name": "Ethnography",
            "description": "Accounts.",
            "findings": [
              {
                "id": "account",
                "name": "Account",
                "description": "Author and date.",
                "questions": [
                  {
                    "text": "Which ethnographic accounts exist?",
                    "kind": "provenance"
                  },
                  {
                    "text": "Are they from community members?",
                    "kind": "boundary"
                  }
                ]
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "id": "archaeology",
            "name": "Archaeology",
            "description": "Remains.",
            "findings": [
              {
                "id": "archaeological-evidence",
                "name": "Archaeological evidence",
                "description": "Site.",
                "questions": [
                  {
                    "text": "What archaeological evidence exists?",
                    "kind": "provenance"
                  },
                  {
                    "text": "Where?",
                    "kind": "provenance"
                  }
                ]
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "id": "today",
        "name": "Today",
        "description": "Heritage and rights.",
        "rationale": "Communities decide.",
        "layers": [
          {
            "id": "repatriation",
            "name": "Repatriation",
            "description": "Remains in collections.",
            "findings": [
              {
                "id": "repatriation",
                "name": "Repatriation",
                "description": "Status.",
                "questions": [
                  {
                    "text": "Are remains held in collections?",
                    "kind": "provenance"
                  },
                  {
                    "text": "Have they been returned?",
                    "kind": "provenance"
                  }
                ]
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "id": "continuity",
            "name": "Continuity",
            "description": "Current practice.",
            "findings": [
              {
                "id": "continuity",
                "name": "Continuity",
                "description": "Status.",
                "questions": [
                  {
                    "text": "Is the practice continued today?",
                    "kind": "provenance"
                  },
                  {
                    "text": "Under what rules?",
                    "kind": "provenance"
                  }
                ]
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  "openQuestions": [],
  "statistics": {
    "bundles": 4,
    "layers": 8,
    "findings": 8,
    "questions": 16
  }
}