When Do Exhumations Take Place?

Further, most exhumations take place during summer months, as the process can prove difficult in lower temperatures due to hardening or freezing of the soil. Before the casket is unearthed, the site is prepared by removing tombstones or any other structures existing above the burial ground.

What time do exhumations take place?

It's traditionally done at dawn, but these days, with good portable lighting, it can indeed be done in the depths of the night. Exhumations are done at these times to deter gawpers and to avoid offence to funeral-goers. Also, the aim is to rebury the body within a day, so it makes sense to start as early as possible.

Why do they wait until dawn to exhume a body?

One of the reasons the use of the wake was enacted in many societies was to deter those who might steal corpses. In contemporary America corpses are disinterred when there is a need to identify a body or to establish cause of death like in the case of suspected homicide.