Sarira - Buddhist relics of cremated monks. Fact or fiction?

[O.B.]

Hello,

I have been lookiing on the Internet for articles verifying / debunking "sarira", which are relics that are said to be found in the ashes of monks of the Buddhist faith "who have led extremely pure lives" after their death and cremation, and so far I have not found any luck.

http://sped2work.tripod.com/sarira.html

Does anyone know more about this? The sure-fire way to debunk all this is to personally cremate dead human beings and/or animals and look for such artefacts :D , but obviously it is not something that I ever imagine myself doing in any part of my life.

[Nolan Coppenger]

All material things have material explanations.

[O.B.]

I have searched over the Internet and have not managed to find any websites that pooh-pooh these Buddhist relics. I would have thought that a single living person in this world who is computer-literate enough would come up with even ONE single link to at least send shockwaves throughout the Buddhist community.

I don't mind being the first, but since I have, fortunately or unfortunately, not had a close relative dead and cremated in my land-scarce country - let alone a Buddhist relative - I am not able to take out the ashes of a recently cremated person and scour it for such relics...and I'm not about to cremate any strays :D just for this "research".

I agree that all material things have material explanations but why has someone not come out to debunk this "sarira" stuff?