As far back as the Neanderthal People, humans and their cousins, awed by the mystery of death, cared for the disposition of corpses, especially those who in their lifetime had assumed prominent positions.

Later, there was Zapotec fraternal fermur-sceptors, and the Christian cult of relics. In the Highlands of New Guinea, the bones of "important men" are stored in a "skull-house," as they are in North Cameroon.

In China, when moving to a new location, families dug up the remains of their ancestors and packed them with their other possessions.
Whose bones should I carry on my journey? Shamans from the Upper Paleolithic? Jews from Yemen? Christians from Spain? Buddhists from the Steppes of Asia? 

Because the only past I know is present.
Because the only present I know is past.